Remembering What Was Never There
by KyosBeads13
Summary: AU When a struggling girl named Kagome stumbles across a half demon with no memory,she'll stop at nothing to unlock his forgotten past. Why does everyone seem so reluctant to help? Is she perhaps dealing with something that's way over her head?InuXKag
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _Well this is my fan fiction that I'm really excited about. I always wanted to do a present day Inu-Yasha fic but I didn't want to do the cliche AUs so this is my shot at it. This is also my first attempt at writing in first person actually... Please let me know what you think, I will be eternally grateful if you drop a review. And now enough of my blabbing onto the fic! ((if you saw the preview in Inu-Yasha, Stay With Me! you may notice some differences...well yeah what I put there was just the rough draft. I fixed a few things...ok A LOT of things haha.)) _

**btw: Anonymous Reviews Are Accepted. **

**DISCLAIMER:** _Rumiko Takahashi owns Inu-Yasha. Kyosbeads13 does not. _

**Remembering What Was Never There  
**

**Chapter 1 **

I was walking home from school one chilly afternoon. My 21st birthday was just around the corner, which would be a good thing, maybe my birthday money could help me pay off the expenses of my apartment and books. Being in collage wasn't the easiest thing in the world, especially since I had moved away and lost touch with my family, only the occasional new years and birthday cards would remind me of the life I once had. I shoved the heavy school books with Higurashi, Kagome clearly spelled out on the paper bag cover higher up on my hip to keep them from slipping any further and adjusted the striped scarf on my neck.

Although very close to winter it was foggy, making it almost impossible to see the traffic signals of when to walk and when to stay put on the other side of the sidewalk. However, I eventually made it to the street where my apartment was located and searched in my coat pocket for my keys. The only thing that came out of that was that I managed to drop my books into the alleyway before my building.

"This would be so much easier if I just had a car." I sighed pulling out my apartment keys then ducking into the ally to pick up my books. One had slid halfway in and I was forced to go in after it. Carefully looking to make sure no one was hiding back there I went in. I walked slowly, making sure not to step on any garbage that was carelessly thrown from the windows above and bent down to pick up my book, it was only then that I noticed a form moving next to me and I jumped back leaving the book on the ground. I watched as a man, he looked to be about my age or a year or two older, walked out of the ally to where I stood and handed me my book.

"You dropped this." He said emerging into the limited light. I gasped as I took the book. The man who stood in front of me didn't look like a normal boy, he had long flowing silver hair and some sort of.. animal ears on the top of his head. I realized I had been staring at him and bowed in apology.

"Thank you." I said referring to the book he returned. "My name is Higurashi Kagome, what's yours?"

"Inu-Yasha." He replied curtly.

"Do you live around here, Inu-Yasha?" I asked wondering if he lived in my apartment complex as well. He seemed to ignore the question which made me a little nervous. "Or work around here?"

"I guess so." This boy was not very friendly at all I could tell. He seemed like he just wanted to be left alone.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you around then." I waved and began to walk away, still puzzled at why he was sitting in a dark alleyway. Regardless, I climbed up to the second floor of the complex to my apartment B13 and opened the door, happy to be home. I walked in, jiggling the key from the door and locked the door safely behind me.

My apartment wasn't exactly pleasing to the eye let's say. It was small with a single bedroom, a small bathroom, a tiny kitchen and a dining room that I turned into a small living area by putting a table and couch in, definitely not for more than one person. As far as I was concerned it suited my needs, I was hardly home these days anyway. I removed my shoes and heavy winter coat placing it on the coat rack behind the door and folded my scarf neatly over another peg. Walking over to my couch and sitting, I placed my books on the coffee table and read over my list of assignments.

'Great two pages of math work, just the thing to cheer me up before work.' I grunted opening the book to the correct page and took a piece of paper out of my binder while gripping my pencil. I had about two hours to kill before I had to go to work.

"Eh, the math work can wait." I said with a smile reclining back on the sofa and closing my eyes.

'That boy outside was awfully strange. Who sits in an ally? I mean he looked to be about my age, a fully grown man playing in an ally, now that's suspicious.' I reopened my eyes. 'Of course I hope he's all right, that nothing happened to him.' I swung my legs over the couch and headed for the kitchen, letting my mid-back hair fall out of its pony tail to hang below my shoulders. Making something to eat, I went back to the living room where I pondered my math homework, among many other things.

XxXxXxX

I locked the door behind me and lazily thumped down the two flights of stairs to the street. I was very warm now with a coat and not to mention I had my apron on for work, which I never understood why we had to wear them, it's not like we were a restaurant or anything, just a small store on the corner of the next street over. I walked passed the ally not even wanting to peer into it to see if that Inu-Yasha was there. But as I tried to walk further by, my curiosity must have gotten the better of me because I simply had to see if he was there. I knew he wouldn't be, but something in me wanted me to check.

"Hello?" The echo of my voice startled me at it's clarity. "Anyone there?" Hearing no response I turned around to see he was in fact there, just sitting on the curb looking very down. The street lights had just turned on, the sun was setting and starting to turn the sky shades of orange and pink.

"Inu-Yasha? Why are you still here? You should really go home."

"That'd be great if I knew where 'home' was." He said solemnly. He sounded different then he did earlier, more tired and sad.

"You don't know where your home is?"

"I don't remember where anything is." He said crossing his arms.

"Then you don't remember-"

"I don't remember nothing."

"Oh gosh, you must have gotten amnesia." I stated. He must have gotten mugged or something and hit his head. Even though Japan's security was usually top notch, this town wasn't exactly the best... But how awful, to not remember anything from your past and basically have nowhere to live then. It must be extremely confusing, not only that but frustrating. "Well, someone will come looking for you eventually right? I mean everyone has someone out there."

"If I do I might as well not." His strangely colored amber eyes traced the outlines of everything on the opposite side of the street. His eyes held a simple innocence deep within them. I couldn't help but look at them, the golden pools shone with such an inexplicable light that I'd have to look away for a minute, only to continue to stare as soon as I looked back. "It's not like I'll be able to remember them."

"How do you remember your name then?" I asked realizing he did infact tell me his name the first time we met. He reached into a pocket in his jacket and handed me what appeared to be a drivers lisence with his picture on it. Upon looking I noticed that only his first name of Inu-Yasha was left on the card, the rest of his information, such as his last name and birthday were scratched off. "This must be terrifying for you."

"It's no cake walk, that's for sure." He said gruffly. "The only things I can remember are random things like my name, and that's only because that card reminded me of it. But knowing my name a'int exactly gonna help me get anywhere."

"No, that's for sure. So you have no where to go at all?"

"Does it look like I do?"

"I'm only trying to help you here, it might be nice if we lost some of the attitude!" That's when I remembered his situation. "Sorry, but I really do have to go to work if you want to come with me... Oh great! Work I completely got side tracked! I'm going to be late now!" Just what I didn't need, to be late again and get more money subtracted. I then remembered Inu-Yasha, who stared at me confused.

"Are you coming with me then?"

"Um thanks," Inu-Yasha said picking himself up. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Kagome." I said softly. He looked at me, confused as anything, probably thinking I'm a total maniac for letting him come, I mean I've known him for a grand total of 20 minutes maybe? What kind of strange college girl would take in a totally strange man and just let him follow her to the place she worked at? And that's when it hit me, this is his only resort. So what was I worried about?

Inu-Yasha and I made small talk while we walked but nothing too big, not that I was expecting much, he just looked at the ground the whole time, aside from the glances we'd steal from one another. How could I help but stare I mean he did have those strange ears and that hair... Maybe I should ask about it? Or would that be rude? I supposed I would find out in time with knowing him, if he remembered, but right now I was 15 minutes late for work and I needed to worry about getting there first above everything else.

"How long we gonna be here anyway?" Well, his sure grammar wasn't the best.. But rather than make a fuss and correct him like I usually would to people I just answered the question.

"Well, until about eight unless my boss decides to keep me later." I pushed open the heavy glass door hearing the bell ring on it. Walking in I waved and greeted my two coworkers at the cash register. They both took on a look of relief upon seeing me enter, but looked straight past me to Inu-Yasha, who stood up tall with his hands jammed in his jacket pockets.

"Um, Sango, Kaede, this is Inu-Yasha. He's kind of in a little trouble, so I thought I'd bring him with me."

"What kind of trouble?" Sango asked suspiciously looking him over. Sango was the younger of the two of my coworkers. She was a little older than me, maybe 23, but still went to the same school as I did. She was a tall and slim girl, always had her long brown hair up in a high ponytail. My other coworker was an older woman, probably in her 60s, I never really asked. Her name was Kaede and she always stuck up for me and Sango if we were late. She was a great friend to the both of us but I saw even she was not too sure about the man I had brought with me.

"Well, I think that he has amnesia, he really can't remember a thing." I tucked some loose hair behind my ear and smiled at them. "I couldn't just leave him out there, so I figured I'd bring him with me." I had him walk forward into the store so both of them could get a look at him in the light. I watched as their eyes drifted straight up to his head where his ears each twitched a bit.

"He must be a half demon to take on looks such as that." Kaede, from what I understood, came from a family of priests and priestesses. I knew she had some training so this must have been a shock to her. Wait, she did say half demon right?

"I don't know what that means but I'm hoping it's alright with you." I continued to say almost pleading for them to let him stay.

"I'm not completely wild about it but it's the boss who might not approve." Kaede said finally taking her eyes off Inu-Yasha.

"Just keep him out of the way of things." Sango added as I took off my coat. I brought Inu-Yasha back behind the counter giving him a box to sit on. I went on my usual duty of restocking the shelves, and could feel Inu-Yasha staring holes in my back as I did it. Sango then walked over me crouching down to my level.

"I'd be careful around him, Kagome. You don't know if he's trying to pull something, he could just be some pervert out to kidnap you. He's a half demon for goodness sake!" She said checking to make sure he wasn't "listening in" from all the way across the store.

"Sango, I'll be fine really. I know it's kind of weird but-"

"Kagome you don't know him at all." She said forcefully. Sango was a sophomore in college while I was a freshman. She had started late in college obviously, but was still one of the smartest people I knew, I looked up to her and hearing her disapproval was heartbreakingly upsetting.

"But," I sat down on the floor looking at her, my back still to Inu-Yasha and Kaede. "If you could have seen him before, his eyes were so sad and helpless. He really has no where to go." I heard Sango sigh stand up.

"Do what you want, I'm just saying I don't trust him and to just be careful." I stood up too, smiling at her once again. "I've heard about the half demons, they can't fit in wtih normal people."

"Don't worry Sango, I'll be fine." I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She nodded and walked back to the front register and started mumbling to Kaede.

She really did point out all the variables that I didn't think through and I began to worry. Half demons? I mean I've heard of them but I didn't think that demons were around anymore. Apparently that was too forward of me to assume but, still. He's a half _demon_ doesn't that mean that he has some strange powers that could hurt me? Maybe doing a good deed such as this one wasn't such a good idea after all...

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _Well there you have it. It really did take me a while to get this right. Like I said the preview I had put up, it was COMPLETELY different then what actually showed up in the story. Well, please drop a review, it will be EXTREMELY appreciated to have some feedback. I really want to know if I could improve on some things or if you just like it! I really hope you enjoyed this so far and will see a review from you! Please tell me how to make it better I would really enjoy some critism.  
_

_Also a little tid bit: I will always post updates about this stories progress on my profile so if you're curious to when it will be updated, check on my profile ok? That's a little something for the anonymous reviewers who can't have alerts but yes it is for everyone so check back from time to time! Thank you so uberly mucho for reading!  
_

_((And thanks to my beta reader Nati for all her help!))  
_

_'Till Next Time!  
_

_A Friend in Words,  
_

_--KB ((KyosBeads13))_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _Sorry I took so long everyone D: My birthday was August 11th so I had a lot going on.. buuuut I'm glad that some people liked it. I got a few alerts and some reviews and that seriously felt amazingly good! I'm really enjoying this story you guys and I hope you are too. ((And yes I did change the summary of the story... I thought this summary gave a bit more information.)) Blah blah blah now onto why you came here, the second chapter! _

**AR Accepted :). **

**DISCLAIMER: **_I don't own Inu-Yasha, nor will I ever. : Cries as the government type people lower their weapons: _

**Remembering What Was Never There **

**Chapter 2 **

"Good night Kaede, Sango." I pushed the door open the opposite way leading myself and Inu-Yasha out of the store. I saw them wrapping things up, pausing only to wave good-bye to me. Once I returned a smile, I walked with Inu-Yasha back up the street to where my complex was.

Tonight was certainly eventful. Sango and Kaede were literally on top of Inu-Yasha for everything. Sango thinks he's only a pervert out to get me and Kaede only sees him as a half demon. What am I going to do? If he remembers he has those half demon powers, he might hurt me if I'm with him, and then kidnap me! Oh no, maybe I should seriously rethink this whole situation!

"So, what did your boss call you up to his office for?" Inu-Yasha questioned, taking me out of the deep conversation I was having with my mind.

"O-oh. Um, it was nothing really." I said rubbing my arm. I really didn't need him to know why my boss, Koga, was always asking me up to his office... Inu-Yasha looked at me curiously, but got the hint and dropped the subject.

It was strangely dark out for some odd reason, and it felt colder. The street lights only lit about a 3 foot radius and they were about 10 feet apart. I found myself walking faster and closer to Inu-Yasha when we'd hit those spots, only for him to back away from me more. We finally got to the front of my building and I took my keys out.

"So, I guess I'll see you." Inu-Yasha said almost sadly walking away from me. I could see from the faint lights, snowflakes were beginning to fall. Looking at what he was wearing, a black teeshirt covered by a light red plaid jacket and torn jeans, I figured that was anything but fit for the weather.

"Wait, Inu-Yasha," I seriously must have been out of my right mind. "Why don't you come stay with me in my apartment? At least until you find somewhere else." He slowly turned back to me and looked away at the stairs to my right.

"I don't need your pity."

"I'm not pitying you, I think it would be nice to have a roommate." I said sending a small smile in his direction. He looked around as if he was scared someone would be listening to our conversation but quickly turned back to me.

"I guess I'll stay with you, but only until I find out who I am." He put extra emphasis on the only. My smile bloomed fully as I took his hand and led him up the two flights of stairs to my apartment door. Putting the key in the door, I ushered him inside and quickly followed after him. As he took his shoes off, he looked around the dim apartment and didn't seem too impressed, not that I expected him to be...

"What a dump..." Inu-Yasha jumped onto the couch and put his feet up on the table.

"Well, sorry it isn't a mansion to fit your royal needs, your highness." I said sarcastically while flipping the kitchen light on and putting a pot of hot water on the stove for tea. I slowly took off my coat and scarf shivering slightly at the coldness my apartment held. The heat had been broken for months and only worked certain times. On a snowy night like tonight it would have been great if it was a tad warmer. I went back to get the hot water for our tea and could see Inu-Yasha's eyes following me every step I took. It was making me nervous, it was like I had a big target on my back and he was sharp shooting. Nonetheless, I came out of the kitchen and set two mugs of tea down, while also tapping his legs off the table. I took a seat on the floor directly across from him on the other side of the table.

"Now lets see if we can get you to remember anything," I hardly held any hope in my voice, I mean how would I, a girl who didn't even know him, get him to remember his entire past? "Do you remember anything about your mother? Or father? Did you have any siblings?"

"I don't know!" He said slamming his tea down. "I told you! The only thing that I have left of my life is a stupid card and more than half of it is gone. How am I supposed to know if I had a family?!"

"I told you I'm only trying to help you, so lose the attitude!" Man this guy was a jerk! He looked down at the small crack in the table that formed where the cup had made contact and picked his tea back up. After taking another sip and setting it down, (gently this time I may add) he looked back at me seemingly more defensive than before.

"What year is it even?" Inu-Yasha played with the fraying side of a hole in his jeans.

"It's 2003."

"I don't even know why I asked that," he stopped fidgeting. "I forget my year of birth."

"Maybe you should just have some food and go to sleep. After you sleep a bit it may come back to you, you might just be trying too hard is all." Getting up, I made my way back to the kitchen. Taking a pot out of the cabinet, I also got some rice and some left-overfish from the night before out of the fridge. There wasn't much to offer him, but it was enough. I boiled some water dumping the rice into the pot, stirring it for only a second then slid the fish in and pressed the buttons on the microwave. Finally, when I returned to the living room, Inu-Yasha was playing with his drivers license.

"It'll be okay," I walked over and sat on the couch next to him while plucking the card from his hands. "Most cases of amnesia are temporary." Giving him a hearty smile I turned to him and heard the microwave go off, signifying that the fish was done being re-cooked.

"You know, when you smile like that it makes me... Well, not remember but think about a girl. A girl that I knew from somewhere." Inu-Yasha looked like he was trying so hard to remember who he was thinking of, but after only a second of thinking he gave up and leaned back on the couch. I dropped my smile and noticed the tired looked etched on his face. Slowly getting up, I went back to the kitchen and took the fish out of the microwave, watching the steam dissipate into the air in nothing less than a few seconds. Scooping the rice carefully into two bowls, I juggled it to the table where he was sitting. Looking out the window, he was watching the car headlights go by with a 'whoosh' of sound.

"Here, try to eat something." Pulling chopsticks out of my other hand, I handed them to him and watched him eat his fish and rice as I settled for nothing more than my bowl of rice and tea. As he ate, his ears twitched, bringing more attention to himself. I simply planned out my day, in my mind, for tomorrow. It would be Sunday, meaning I had the entire day to finally rest from school until I went to work.

"Thanks.." Inu-Yasha murmured some time later putting the chopsticks down beside the empty bowls.

"Of course!" Cheerfully I picked up the remainders of our tea and "meal" washing the dishes in the sink. While I dried my hands, I saw Inu-Yasha picking up some of the pictures that were on the table and scratching his head.

"So who are these people?" He showed me the picture and I sat on the couch next to him taking it.

"That's my family. My Mother, Father, and little brother. I was still so young when that was taken and my brother was a new born, and my Father was still alive." Fidgeting I put the picture back on the table. "I miss them. They're back in Tokyo, but I had to leave them to move here to Osaka a while ago. It's like I don't have a family to protect me anymore."

"I know the feeling."

"Inu-Yasha, how about you sleep in my room tonight and I'll sleep on the couch? You'll be more comfortable in there probably." Good move, Kagome, change the subject.

"What about you?" He said for the first time seeming to care about someone other than himself.

"I'll be fine really, I sleep on this couch all the time!" I pulled the blanket that hung over the back of it down to the main part of the sitting area.

"I guess that'll be fine."

"You can take a shower tonight if you'd like also." His hair looked greasy, he must not have been clean for days.

"That's what I was going to ask you." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"All right, the bathroom is the first door on the right and my bedroom is straight across from it." I laughed and pointed to each door. He nodded ducking into the bathroom and shutting the door, the only noise from him was the shower handles being turned.

XxXxXxX

It might have only been maybe ten or fifteen minutes later, but I was sorting things out in my room to make it at least a bit more comfortable for Inu-Yasha. When I put the last of my laundry away, I heard the bathroom door creak open and steam came pouring out. Following after it, Inu-Yasha emerged, with nothing more than a towel covering him. I could feel my face get hot as I scanned over him, he obviously worked out, his muscle tone was amazing. My eyes followed his body up to his face where his wet, shining hair now seemed to cradle and give him a soft glow while he looked so much more peaceful and relaxed.

"Kagome?" My name rang out of his throat hoarsely. He cleared his throat and called once more. "Hey Kagome, where are you?"

"I-I'm in here!" I called out flustered from the only slightly cracked door. He pushed open the door holding his towel in place. Oh yeah, Inu-Yasha needed pajamas didn't he? Walking to my pajama drawer, I slid it open and pulled out the biggest pair of pajama pants the drawer contained and strew them on the bed. "Those may fit you, at least try them. It'll be better than just sleeping in your jeans." I felt a blush come to my face as I stole one last glance of his bare chest before running out, shutting the door behind me. Walking over to the couch, I plopped down putting my heavy head in my hand. The clock screamed the fact that it was 10:30 already, and I still needed to go food shopping the next day before work. My thoughts were interrupted by Inu-Yasha walking down the short hallway wearing my pajama pants that were obviously too short for him. They were all the way up to his ankles but fit perfectly in the hips, he didn't seem too content and folded his arms over his bare torso, the lack of heat now definitely making itself known.

"What're you staring at?"

"Nothing! I was just thinking about how cold you must be.."

"For some reason I'm not that cold." Thinking about it, I realized it must be due to the fact that he was a half demon.

"Well, we should both be getting to bed I think. I need to get some food from the store tomorrow."

"Why do I gotta go?" Inu-Yasha moved his hands to his hips.

"Because I need help carrying the bags inside. Please? Maybe if I have enough money we can get you some clothes." Attempting to make him say yes by bribing him wasn't horrible... Not something to be proud of but not horrible...

"Fine." Inu-Yasha didn't seem up for arguing and agreed with me quickly. Clapping my hands together in contentment I went back to my bedroom to grab a long nightshirt I had laid out perviously. I brought it back out to the living room, Inu-Yasha's eyes following me everywhere I went.

"Thank you." The cheeriness in my voice seemed to make him uncomfortable as he turned to go back to the bedroom. "Well, goodnight!" He stopped only to turn around to see me once more, then continuing to walk to my room, his hair flipping around while he grunted and shut the door. A giggle escaped my throat as I went into the bathroom to change my clothes as well. Shutting the door and flipping on the light, Inu-Yasha's clothes that were thrown carelessly on the sink came into view. I sighed to myself and took the liberty of folding them to find his underwear along with them.

'You're kidding me. He's wearing MY pants with no underwear... What a pig!' I mentally shuddered while putting the folded pile on the corner of the sink and removed my shirt and pants, throwing them in the dirty clothes hamper. Fearing the cold, I scrambled to get the cotton night shirt on, and when successful, walked out barefoot to the couch laying my tired body down reading the clock one final time before I went to sleep.

10:46 PM. That meant there were only 14 more minutes left to the hour, 14 times 60 was 830? No, 840 seconds left in the hour, which really didn't seem like a lot when I thought about it more. I wonder how many seconds that Inu-Yasha was missing... If he was my age that would be around 21 or 22 years of missing months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds but most importantly memories and love. I felt myself turn to face the back of the couch as I tried to calculate how many seconds I had left until my next birthday, until the new year, until I got out of school, until...

XxXxXxX

The sun was bright against my closed eyelids. Opening my eyes, I felt a sense of confusion. I wasn't in my room, wait, I remember, the living room, that's where I was sleeping. Looking over to the clock, a groan escaped my throat when it read 11:57. We needed to get up and going to the store! My legs found their way stiffly over the side of the couch as I walked to the window, the cold hardwood floors merciless on my bare feet. The white powder that covered everything forced my eyes to look away, the snow that we got last night was nothing less than a blizzard! That's when I remembered I still had to wake up Inu-Yasha and get dressed. Slowly making my way to the bedroom, I stretched my stiff body out, breathing in hard and refreshing my lungs. Pushing the door open quietly, I tiptoed to my drawers and pulled out a pair of jeans and a dark blue sweater placing them on top of the dresser. Then I walked quietly over to the bed where Inu-Yasha laid snoring. The sheets were tangled around his feet that hung over the bed, while his hair was plastered every which direction on his face. This was seriously priceless. Despite the objections my mind screamed at me to not wake him, I nudged him slightly while cooing his name shortly after.

"Inu-Yasha. Inu-Yasha it's time to get up." His snoring stopped and his left eye fluttered open to me, then quickly shut as he turned back over still half asleep. Trying a new theory, I pulled open the curtains to the window that was next to the dresser and saw him cower farther below the covers. "Inu-Yasha come on you said you would help me today."

"But... I'm...today...errrrrrrg." Inu-Yasha's sentence made no sense at all as I saw him yet again curl up in the sheets.

"Get up!" Putting my foot on his back, I gave him a push and with it and I heard him growl. Finally, after much persuasion, he unwrapped himself out of the sheets and sat on the side of the bed, rubbing his eyes while groaning with sleepiness. The light oozing into the room from the window reflected off his soft hair, it was almost as bright as the snow outside was. I know it isn't right to say this about a guy, and especially this guy, but he really was beautiful.

"When do we have to leave?" He said straightening his hair out simply by running his hand through it once or twice.

"As soon as we both get dressed! It's already twelve!" Taking my clothes I headed out the door closing it behind me. Quickly I turned around and screamed into the door, "And don't you dare you back to sleep, Inu-Yasha!" I heard another groan and the sound of his feet hitting the floor and smirked as I entered the bathroom, threw his clothes out into the hallway, and closed the door. He was being dramatic and thumped out of the room to pick up his clothes. I was already done dressing by the time he did this and was brushing my hair, deciding to leave it down for today. The door creaked as I pushed it open and headed towards the kitchen, grabbing the list of what I needed to retrieve at the store while I was out. Inu-Yasha came from my room and plopped lazily onto the couch which was still covered in my blanket.

"Are you ready?" I said grabbing my coat and purse from the rack behind the door.

"Will you hold on for a second? Or do I have to go out half asleep? Stupid impatient woman."

"Well, excuse me but half the reason we're going out is for you!" Inu-Yasha's attitude was definitely something that annoyed me. He was still sitting on the couch with his lazy expression so I took it upon myself to grab his hand and pull him towards the door.

"What's the big idea!?" The half demon screamed while I shoved him out the door.

"I told you: We're. Going. Out. End of story!" And with that I pushed him further down the hallway, quickly locking my door behind me just in case Inu-Yasha decided to push his way back in.

The cold air immediately hit us in the hallway, it affecting me more than him. It really shocked me despite the presence of the snow, and I figured I better just go to the small store where I worked, it was far too frigid to walk to the supermarket. Plus, with employee discounts, I would be able to hold up my bargain of new clothes for Inu-Yasha. We approached the store after much bickering and name calling but reached it nonetheless (and much to my relief). I was ready for this day to be over already, however I continued pushing the glass door plastered with advertisements open and heard the bell ring twice as Inu-Yasha and I both stepped into the cramped store.

"Hey Kagome! What're you doing here, it isn't even your shift!" The young man behind the counter called out to me.

"I'm just here to do a little shopping, Miroku." Miroku was the closest guy friend that I had. We rarely saw each other at work, although we worked in the same place, but I would see him on outings with Sango. The two kind of had a thing going, not that Sango would ever admit it. He was a bit on the tall side, his hair was long and brown, held back usually in a ponytail. He was that kind of friend who's there for "comic relief" in an awkward situation. His only downside was his mind was permanently placed in the gutter for reasons only Kami-Sama knew. "Things are busy today."

"Eh, it's Sunday. It's to be expected." I saw Miroku's eyes travel to the man who stood behind me impatiently. His smile turned to a tight frown as he saw Inu-Yasha, making me nervous to the point of almost shaking.

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, it's," He never once looked at me. "Everything is fine." Looking back to Inu-Yasha, he was looking at Miroku as well. He looked like he did last night when he was trying to remember someone, and for that I became worried. Wouldn't Miroku have said something right away if he knew who Inu-Yasha was?

Picking out the items I needed off the shelves, I pondered these things. I really had been thinking a lot the past two days, about someone I didn't know no less. I wonder if someone else was thinking about him as much as I was...

"Hey you in there?" A hand waved back and forth in front of my face. "You gonna buy that soap or just stare at it all day?" Once again Inu-Yasha had shook me from my thoughts.

"Sorry, I just thought about something for too long." Grabbing the soap I took the basket that I had filled up to the counter, watching Miroku's blank gaze towards Inu-Yasha continue. Miroku must have noticed that I was watching him and began to act like he was never staring at him in the first place and rang up my groceries. After telling me how much it would be, I handed him the money but was still curious about why he was looking at Inu-Yasha like he was.

"Hey, Miroku?"

"Y-yes?" He said a bit too timidly.

"Do you know anything about Inu-Yasha over there?" I proceeded to point to the one who had walked outside the store.

"O-of course not, Kagome. I've never seen him before in my life."

"Are you sure? Because the poor guy has amnesia and I'm just trying to help him along."

"Is that so? Well, Kagome, you are indeed a sweet person." Miroku handed me my bags as if to say 'you can leave now' as I took them and smiled.

"Well, if you think about it and remember something about him, let me know okay? I really want to help him get his memories back and it'd be great if I had a bit of a lead on how to do that." I winked at him and headed for the door, pushing it open and being greeted by Inu-Yasha's complaints of waiting.

"Who was that guy?" Inu-Yasha said sounding strangely intrigued. Completely ignoring him, we made our way to the closest clothing store around, me thinking way too much again.

'The way Miroku looked at Inu-Yasha ... and the way Inu-Yasha is reacting now, could Miroku have known Inu-Yasha before and just be lying to me? No, that's silly. Miroku would have no reason to lie about something like that.' At least I hoped he wouldn't. Inu-Yasha pulled open the door to the store and I followed in after him waiting at the front of the store to bring me the clothes he needed.

'Maybe Inu-Yasha did something wrong to Miroku before this happened...' My thoughts terrified me.

What on Earth could this boy have done to deserve forgetting his whole past?

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _Well, this chapter must have been pretty boring.. Not that much happened! Sorry if it was a little boring but I needed to set some stuff up! For this story I'm trying to write long chapters, and I think I'm doing pretty well. Well, that's really all here! However, this chapter is in celebration of my 2 years on today which is the 17th! Here's to two years of improvement! And please press that pretty indigo button down there and review!!! Thanks to everyone for the reviews and alerts to push me to write this next chapter! _

_'Till Next Time! _

_A Friend in Words, _

_--KB_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **_You guys are really amazing. In the small amount of people that are actually reading this, I've gotten 9 reviews already with only two chapters, 4 favorites, and 7 alerts. That is just so, I don't know how to describe it other than inspiring! You guys by doing that have really pushed me to write this and for that I love you all! Unfortunately, school has started up which is making it very difficult to update. Sophomore year, here I come, and hopefully you guys will stay by my side and help me get through it! And well I know this took forever to get up ... but I've been ... well really down lately and it's been hard to be inspired, so I'm really sorry for the wait, now enough of all this! Enjoy! _

**AR ACCEPTED.**

**DISCLAIMER:** _Although I have the power to stick the Inu-Yasha characters in a place other than the Feudal Era of Japan, that does not mean that I own them... Sorry to disappoint you._

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 3**

Have you ever had one of those really annoying flies that seem to just live in your house and nag you constantly? So much to the point that you just want to pick up the phone book and fling it at the darn thing and not care what breaks? I think Inu-Yasha made me take the phone book theory to a whole different level. Letting him live in my apartment was one of the biggest mistakes of my whole entire life. All he did was complain, and when I wasn't listening to him complain, I was fighting with him...

It's Monday now, and the roads from yesterday's storm had been cleared, but my mind sure hasn't. Here I am sitting in class when I might as well be staring at the back of my eyelids, having wonderful dreams about a dancing piece of toast and his freaking little magic bunny friends. Nothing is getting through my mind barrier right now, nothing. My sensei must have stopped caring if I was even paying attention anymore, seeing as I've probably ignored his last five attempts at getting me out of my state of anger and dreaminess. This can't keep going on! I can't waste my time and good college money on someone that I don't even owe it to!

"Higurashi!!" Wow, someone really needs that Higurashi don't they? Oh wait, that's me isn't it.

"Sango? What's up?" Shaking out of my staring match with the window, I looked to my friend.

"Are you coming with me out to lunch or are you going to stay here and just think about it?" She asked shifting her weight to her left leg.

"Oh! Yeah I'm coming." I picked up my books and bent down to pick up my pen that fell, only to have my head collide with the corner of my desk.

"Kagome, are you feeling all right today? You really don't seem yourself."

"I'm sorry, I just have a lot of things going on. School and work are enough to stress anyone out." Letting Sango travel through the doorway first I adjusted my books in my arms. Our shoes made a pitter-patter against the mass-produced tile floor as we headed down the deserted hallway. We were lucky, our school allowed us to leave for lunch, needless to say, nearly the whole school took that privilege leaving hardly anyone in the cafeteria. The double doors were finally in arms reach and Sango pushed one open, the cold air rushing to us. Sango ran to her car to start it and heat it up while I squinted at the residue of snow covering the bushes in front. After the engine roared, I ran to the car and opened the door, thankful that the warmth in the car was spreading fast.

"You want to come into work with me today? I'm going right after school, Kaede needs to leave early tonight and I'm covering for her."

"I'm sorry, Sango but I promised Inu-Yasha that I'd pick him up and bring him with me."

"Of course you did," Sango sighed while putting her car into drive. "I suppose we can swing by and pick him up too, as long as we do it fast."

"Thank you!" I smiled at her frown as we pulled out of the parking lot and drove down the street. Staring at my stationary reflection, my hot breath made a small circle of steam of the cold glass and smirking, I transformed it into a smiley face. Looking at it for about five seconds, it made me sick, and I quickly wiped it off with my jacket sleeve. It's official, this is the worst mood I have ever been in.

"Okay, Kagome, 'fess up. What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I said hoping that it would cover up the fact it was something. "Inu-Yasha and I just had a little fight before I left, that's all."

"A fight? Kagome..." She held concern in her voice as we turned the corner into the parking lot of our favorite little cafe. She pulled the key out of the ignition but refused to unlock the doors. "Kagome, if this is what you're going through you got to get rid of him. If not for you then for the sake of your school work! If this keeps going on you're going to flunk out!"

"I'm telling you, I'm fine." Pulling on the door handle was pointless, but I did it anyway. Maybe I could escape Sango's lecture if I tried hard enough. Giving up, I slumped back down in the car seat. "Really, everything's under control."

"Kagome I can't tell you what to do. I shouldn't have to, your twenty-first birthday is next week. It would just let me sleep better at night if you would just turn him over to the police and let them deal with him."

"I can't do that! The police aren't going to get his memories back! They aren't even going to have patience with him!"

"The police will find the people who will! Kagome you don't even know him!" Sango was practically screaming at me. People outside the cafe were staring at us in the car, they must be wondering what's wrong with us. "What could you possibly do to help him?" She honestly asked the question not in her defense but asking it out of curiosity. I heard the door "click" unlocked. She was testing me.

"Everything I can." Looking at her sternly, her scowl turned to a softer expression.

"Well, the gods bless your soul, Kagome. You have the heart of an angel." Sango said getting out of the car.

XxXxXxX

Work was actually busier than I had perviously hoped. I wanted to get a chance to apologize to Sango about what I had said earlier and maybe even talk about ways to help Inu-Yasha along, but that plan fell through horribly. Once she let me and Inu-Yasha out of her car she simply went right to work. Kaede however said a lot to me on the way out.

"Kagome, I've been thinking about this whole amnesia situation and I believe I have come up with something you can do."

"Kaede that's wonderful! What is it?" I wanted to hug the old woman.

"You must use that Ouija board I gave you for the Chinese New Year, child. That will guide you to the answers you need." She must have seen how my expression dropped. Last year for New Years, Kaede had given me an Ouija board as a present. You know, those boards that you have the triangular mover and spirits come through and answer your questions by saying yes or no or spell things out using the letters and numbers present on the board. Unfortunately for all the spirits who were eager to talk to me, I didn't believe in all that mumbo-jumbo and the board sat in my bedroom completely unused. "Just remember to ring a bell in all four corners, lest you risk an evil spirit."

"Thank you," I said marveling at how even now she could use such proper Japanese. "I'll look into it." Hopefully she couldn't tell I was lying through my teeth as she walked away.

"You sure do space out a lot." Inu-Yasha said getting in my face.

"I do not!" I screamed back noticing that I had dropped my broom directly on the floor, only God knows how long ago.

"Right, well Sango says she needs you to restock the bread shelves." He retreated back to his crate behind the register where Sango fretted with customers who were seemingly all in a hurry for something. Inu-Yasha, after a minute or two of feeling sorry for her decided to get up and help, opening our only other cash register. I went to the back store room, (placing the broom back there as I did so) and picked up two crates of bread and checking them off on the inventory list. Miroku was in charge of doing the inventory for the whole store, so we always liked to help him whenever we could.

I came out of the store room as gracefully as I could, trying not to hit anyone. Once I got to the shelves, I emptied out the two crates, filling the shelves to the max. A customer grabbed a loaf and smiled at me, then continued on with her shopping. Pushing the crates to the end of the aisle, I got a brief glimpse of the registers, the crowd now more under control. Sango must be happy that Inu-Yasha was here at this point, and oh, would Kaede owe her big time for pinning her with this shift.

"You guys having fun?" Teasing Sango when she was mad was so fun.

"Actually, Inu-Yasha really helped me out." She smiled at him as he gave her an inward grunt while slouching against the wall. We both went silent as the thumps of feet could be hear against the stairs leading up to Koga's office sounded. How would we cover up Inu-Yasha? Koga went through the threshold of the stairway and nodded at the two of us, his eyes darting to the stranger behind the counter.

"Who's he?" Koga never really was one to have manners when meeting someone.

"Um, Koga this is Inu-Yasha, he's living with me under some strange circumstances," Not in the mood to explain anything I pressed on with the introductions. "And Inu-Yasha this is my boss, Koga." The only response out of either one of them was a grunt towards one another. Oh boy, just what I didn't need, more people not getting along.

"Yo." Koga snorted. Kaede always said that she highly believed Koga was a demon, and considering the shock of Inu-Yasha being a half demon, I was starting to see why she had been making those said assumptions. "Don't think I didn't see you here last time."

"Koga-San, I'm sorry I didn't even ask if it was okay."

"Kagome, don't worry about it. I would just rather have him here doing something than taking up space."

"He is doing something." Sango threw his attitude right back at him. "He's helping out a lot more than you are around here anyway." She added so that only Inu-Yasha and I were the ones to hear it.

"I just came down to check the time charts." Koga made his way behind the register over to my side, which was totally ridiculous because we all knew the shift time charts were under Sango's register. As he went to pass over to Sango's side I could feel him brush onto my body and saw him smile grossly. "Whoops... Sorry." His grin widened as he grabbed the charts sneering at Sango and heading back up to his office, his high pony tail bobbing as he climbed up.

"Creep..." Sango muttered as the door shut soundly. Sango wasn't too fond of Koga... Well, Sango wasn't really too fond of anyone now that I think of it. It was a shock that she even bothered with me. I looked to Inu-Yasha who had a grimace plastered on his face, and followed his gaze to the stairs.

"Don't worry about Koga," I said reassuring Inu-Yasha. "He's really all talk, he doesn't have anything to show for it."

"He'll have a black eye to show for it if he messes with me again, that's for sure." Inu-Yasha grunted while putting his feet up on the register counter. Just as we were ready to relax, the bell on the front door sounded a few times signaling more customers. I heard Sango sigh audibly as I tucked myself out of the counter. She pointed to the snack shelves with a pleading look as I groaned going back to the store room to lug out the heavy crates of sweets.

XxXxXxX

"That was the most insane Monday night I have ever lived through." Sango sighed as both me and Inu-Yasha climbed into the back of her car.

"But when Koga slipped on the candy bar the little kid threw at him, it took everything in my power to not laugh at him!" I laughed earning a slight chuckle from both Sango and Inu-Yasha. We felt the car go into reverse.

"Hey Kagome I was thinking all work about that game we were playing in study hall that one day, the game where I ran out of questions?"

"Oh, the 'what if' game."

"Yeah that's it. I came up with a few questions, Inu-Yasha you can play too if you want. I'm going to drive around for a bit before dropping you guys off." Inu-Yasha looked out the window but I could see his dog ears perk up as if waiting for the first question.

"That sounds fun actually." I said wanting to take my mind off things, which would be rather difficult, considering the protagonist of all said things was sitting next to me.

"All right, what if a comet flew into earth and hit your apartment?" She put the blinker on to make a left turn and I answered while shifting to one side.

"I'd push it out and hope to God that no one was walking along the side walk." Sango giggled a bit but Inu-Yasha remained as quiet as a stone statue.

"What if Miroku started going to our school?"

"I'd transfer out in a heart beat!" While looking into the rearview mirror I could see the evident blush that loomed on Sango's cheeks, even in the dark. She made yet another right turn as I fell onto Inu-Yasha, earning quite the glare from him. "All right, Inu-Yasha this is for you. What if you got your memory back?"

"I..." The air in the car constricted, allowing neither me or him to breathe. "Why are you even asking me?" He shot back, dryly.

"Well, are you going to stay with Kagome? Or will you go back to your family?" Inu-Yasha's amber orbs shot over to me, my stomach did a flip then dropped farther than ones stomach should ever be.

"I don't know, that was a stupid question to ask." Inu-Yasha dramatically looked back out the window in a huff while I sat with my hands folded in my lap. We pulled up in front of the complex faster than I thought and Sango unlocked the doors. While getting out I waved goodnight to her as Inu-Yasha followed slowly into the apartment.

"Sorry about her, she's a bit forward." I said that while I rubbed the back of my head.

"You don't have to apologize for everyone, you know. You seem to do that a lot, start worrying about yourself for a change." Although trying to sound forceful, it came out as more caring, earning a slight smile from me. Looking from him to the clock, I quickly realized that I still had homework to do, that and I was going to try to follow up on Kaede's suggestion of using the Ouija board. At this point I've realized I've totally hit rock bottom...

"Inu-Yasha, do you remember ever hearing about something called an Ouija board?" He shook his head while I turned down the short hallway to my bedroom, flinging the closet door to the side to pull out a rectangular box. As I read out loud "Ouija," the dormant contents of the box shifted from their seemingly permanent spots. Walking back to him, his look of confusion was overwhelming.

"This is an Ouija board," I said taking the board out and setting the pointer on the table beside it. One thing I did know you never did with one of these things is leave the pointer on the board. "You can supposedly talk to the spirits that have passed on through this."

"Kay..." His confusion changed to utter disbelief and it almost seemed as if his eyes were saying, 'you really need to be locked up.'

"Kaede said to try it, a spirit over there might know something about your past life."

"Fantastic." He held no more hope in his voice than I did. Sitting on the floor across the table from me, he eyed the board very suspiciously. "What are these symbols?"

"They're letters... Like on a keyboard, well an American keyboard. I took a lot of English courses and I'm not exactly fluent but I can figure some things out, let's just try it." I rang the bell that was included in the box to ward off the evil spirits then put the pointer on the board. My left and right pointer and middle fingers found their way to the triangular shaped piece of plastic as I urged Inu-Yasha to follow their example. Ready to give up all dignity I had, I began to ask it questions. "Um, hi.. Is uh, anyone there?"

The plastic triangle, much to my surprise and disbelief, began to more up to the 'yes' at the top of the board.

"What does that mean?" Inu-Yasha quizzically asked as a young child learning would.

"It means hai, there is someone there. Can you in anyway help us to find Inu-Yasha's lost memory?" My hands trembled a bit as it moved and spelled out 'yes' once again. I nodded to Inu-Yasha who stared steadfast at the board. "How can you help us?"

The mover shuffled over to each letter spelling amazing well in English, for what I knew of it. The spirit spelled out 'I am Inu-Yasha's human half.' I was shaking at this point, I wasn't moving the marker and Inu-Yasha obviously wasn't, he didn't know or remember any English.

"Can you remember anything from his past?" The marker spelled out 'somethings not all.' I looked up to Inu-Yasha who was still staring at the board. "Inu-Yasha is there anything you want to ask it? Inu-Yasha?" I took a hand off the marker and waved it in front of his eyes. There was no response from him.

I took both hands off and shook him slightly, which caused him to come out of whatever he was in.

"What just happened to you?!" I was getting freaked out.

"I- I was the one talking. But it wasn't me..." Remembering he was a hanyou, I knew that he was half human and half demon. Why was it is human side that came through and not the demon I wonder. I would think that the demon side of him could overpower his human side easily. I signed him off quickly, before Inu-Yasha could be taken over again and rang the bell a few more times around Inu-Yasha.

"Um, I don't think we're gonna do that again for a long time." Putting everything back in the box and closing it, I quickly shoved it to the side of the coffee table, casting a look of distress towards Inu-Yasha who now sat wide-eyed, staring at nothing. "Inu-Yasha?"

"I think I'm going to go lay down." He walked silently closing the door behind him without any attitude which worried me. Was there something more that happened to him that I just couldn't see?

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _Huzzah! Yeah I know Ouija boards, not everyone believes in spirits but ehhh there's gonna be a whole big deal with it. The whole idea came from me and my friends screwing around with a board haha. But trust me, it plays an important part. What is it? You'll have to wait and find out. :evil authoress: Also, you've probably noticed several summary changes for this story, I'm just trying to attract more readers heh sorry for that. Well thank you again for bearing with the wait, again I'm kinda coming out of a slump so expect some more updates, I'm working on a oneshot. Please review it'll make me feel better!!! And thanks for reading you guys, it means a lot, really. _

_'Till Next Time! _

_A Friend in Words, _

_--KB_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** _Yes, yes I know I said that I wasn't going to continue this story but I guess I was just jumping the gun, so to speak. I apologize for the inconvenience of having to wait but here is the long awaited chapter four! _

**DISCLAIMER:** _Even if I wished upon a star, the wonder that is Inu-Yasha would still not belong to me. And will unfortunately remain as the wondrous athoress, Rumiko Takahashi's, property. _

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter Four**

Walking into the little store, I dusted my clothes off, hearing Inu-Yasha tap his boots of the snow behind me. It was snowing once again today, heavy at times, however as for now it stayed as a little constant reminder of the winter season. The snow kept my heart light in my rib cage, while the happiness of the day spread though my body with a warm tingle. Today was finally the day that I turned 21 and could be considered an adult by everyone's eyes. My birthday had finally been reached.

"Hello? Sango, Kaede?" Looking around the store, no one answered my calls. "You guys?" That's when my attention went to the stairs leading down from Koga's office. A small creak of them revealed to my eyes Kaede and Sango holding a small cake with a few candles on it.

"Happy Birthday, Kagome." They both said smiling at me.

"I told you two not to do anything!" I laughed out.

"This is hardly anything," Sango said placing the cake on the register counter for me to blow out the candles. "Make sure you make a good wish." She said to me as I leaned over the cake.

"I know exactly what I'm wishing for," I closed my eyes and blew out the candles while the ladies beamed. Inu-Yasha stood at the door with the same scowl painted on his face. "Thank you both."

"Aye, child, you deserve it. You've worked very hard ever since you moved here." Kaede winked at me. Waving it off I took my coat off, wrapping my apron around my waist and putting the top loop under my ponytail.

"Kagome, Kagome," Sango sighed shaking her head. "It's your birthday and all you can think of is working! Take it easy, Koga won't be in tonight and it's snowing. No one will come here! You, me, Kaede, and Inu-Yasha can all have fun!"

"Are you sure?" I blinked a few times. Never had I slacked from work, not even when I was sick! But Koga was out today, and what he doesn't know won't hurt him I suppose. "All right." Slinging my apron over the counter, Sango went and pulled out a knife and plates from the shelf. She cut the mini sized cake into eight pieces and distributed one piece each to the four of them to us each.

"So this is what you do when the jerk isn't here?" Inu-Yasha asked, walking to his normal sitting crate and kicking his feet up on the counter top.

"Normally he is always here, but when he isn't we call up Miroku and Kagome and play cards." Sango said referring to the several card packs below where his feet were propped. "Well, _we_ play cards while Kagome dusts like the good girl she is."

"Oh," He said almost disappointed.

"It isn't much, but we do enjoy it." Kaede said quietly taking the cards.

"How about we play a few games of twenty-one in honor of my birthday?" I gleamed ignoring the good girl comment. The other two nodded in agreement joining me in my position of sitting on the floor.

XxXxXxX

It was about nine o clock when we decided it would be wise to clean the store. Things had gotten a little out of control with us, despite Kaede's pleads of composure. Sango had slipped on water from Inu-Yasha's soaked boots and had smashed cake in his face immaturely for revenge. Inu-Yasha had picked the cake up out of his lap and threw it, however much to my discontentment, it missed her and hit me square in the face, which is when the food fight started. Two hours later from when it began, we were scrubbing the walls and items on the shelves. Sango and I told Kaede to go home early, considering she took no part in making the place a wreck.

"Even though we're stuck cleaning this up, it was worth it. This was the best birthday I've had in a while." Scrubbing the wall hard, I saw Sango smile as she cleaned off multiple bags of potato chips. We had a long few hours ahead of us, there was so much to clean...

"Glad you're enjoying it." Inu-Yasha scoffed scrubbing the wall opposite from me. I rolled my eyes at the wall and continued to scrub. Sango ducked behind the shelf and scrubbed some blue icing from the floor.

"I'm just glad that Koga isn't here to see this. Can you imagine the look on his face if he walked into this mess?" Her laugh was cut short by a car door slamming and an all too familiar voice spewing a chain of curses as he flung the door open. Sango stepped back in suprise at the irony of her statement just moments before. I stood there trying to keep from dropping my rag.

"What did you two do!? And where is the old woman!?" Koga was furious with us. His eyes traveled to every one of us, but stuck on Inu-Yasha, which made my stomach drop lower than my hips. "And you, this kind of thing has never happened until you showed up."

"Wait just a damn minute-" Inu-Yasha called out. He was cut off by Koga walking towards him, his shoes kicking off snow as he stomped.

"No, Koga! Don't be mad at him! It's not his fault!" I said a bit too broadly in his defense. His glare turned to me as he pivoted on his heels.

"What?" He hissed out from clenched teeth.

"I did it. Don't blame him for it, he was just helping clean up so we wouldn't get in trouble. Don't be mad at him!"

"Kagome... You..." Koga stuttering was a VERY bad thing. He always had something to say, this was really too much. He marched back over to me and spoke in a low tone. "Kagome get out."

"But-"

"Get. Out." Koga walked over and held the door open, the cold air breaking the warmth of the heat. Sango stared wide-eyed at me with her jaw held open. I picked up my cake-covered apron and placed my rag down on the counter begging for Inu-Yasha with my eyes to follow suit. Luckily enough, he did and as I walked out putting my coat on he shot a cold glare at Koga. As I walked slowly away from the store, over the howling wind I could hear Koga screaming his lungs out at poor Sango to clean up the store or else she would be fired. Had I just been fired? Or was Koga thinking up something worse to put me through?

Inu-Yasha was mumbling obscene curses next to me as I put a hand up under my eyes. Tears slipped down my face despite the gesture as the cold wind whipped snow into my line of view that was already limited because of the darkness.

"Don't you start crying because of that jerk. He's not worth your time." Inu-Yasha said folding his arms dramatically over his chest.

"That was my main source of money. Without that job, I'm in serious trouble!" More tears fell down my face as my eyes went to him. His gaze wasn't anywhere near mine as I settled for watching my feet leave craters in the fresh powder. "I'm not going to school tomorrow, I have to beg Koga for my job back."

"You're going to give in?" He looked at me, fire burning in his brightly hued eyes.

"I have no choice, Inu-Yasha." Wiping away my tears, I reached into my pocket for my apartment key and turned to the first flight of stairs in the front of the building. The walk up to my apartment was so quiet; it was almost awkward in a sense that Inu-Yasha had nothing to say back. I pushed the key into the doorknob turning it weakly while sniffling from the cold. Waiting for me on the floor in front of my cold feet was a letter that must have been pushed under my door, my name written in neat cursive on the front. I knew the handwriting well.

"What's that?" Inu-Yasha asked plainly throwing himself on the couch. I put my jacket on the coat rack and turned on a few more lights, lighting up the white envelope in a glow.

"It's from my family." Smiling, I ripped it open pulling out a card with 'Happy Birthday' printed in pink swirly lettering. It had a faded picture of roses on the front with glitter accents on it. Sometimes, I swore my Mom still thought I was a little girl, but I still loved it. When I opened the card and read the inside of it, I could smell the old scent of my house emanating from it. It still smelt the same; Mom's perfume and the air fresheners that were placed periodically around the house. The bottom of the card sported three individual signatures, one with bubbly cursive script that belonged to my Mother, another that seemed to be nothing but a scribble which I could classify as my Father's, and the last name that was printed plainly was my brother, Sota's.

Feeling another foreign object still looming in the envelop, I stuck my hand in it and pulled out the birthday money that was securely at the bottom. I walked into the kitchen and placed it in the drawer where I kept my extra money, then walked over placing the card next to the picture of my family, smiling widely. Inu-Yasha picked it up, looking it over, then placed it back down.

"Do they always send you cards like that?" He asked.

"Well, not always, but when they do it just seems to brighten everything," I said pulling my hair out of my pony tail. "Listen, I'm still a bit dirty from our little cake fight. I'm going to take a quick shower." Inu-Yasha said nothing and looked from my pictures to the card. Figuring he heard me, I walked to the bathroom and shut the door, starting the hot water in the shower.

XxXxXxX

Sighing outwardly while stepping out of the shower, I wrapped myself in a towel feeling much more refreshed and relaxed than I did before entering. Reaching for an unseen object, my hand collided with nothing but cold marble top.

'Hm, that was stupid. I was in such a rush to shower that I forgot to grab clothes.' The cold of the doorknob was a shock to my hand as the door opened with a creak and steam poured into the confined hallway. I turned left to get to my room and ran into Inu-Yasha, who flung his arms behind him carefully.

"Uh..."

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." I said blushing obviously, I was in a towel, after all.

"Yeah, just be more careful." He said and continued out to the living room. The door to my room was already opened to the point of being able to snake through the crack while keeping a hand on the tightly wrapped towel. Opening the drawer sent a small echo of wood scraping against wood through the apartment as I gently grabbed my heavier fleece pajamas that were made for the snowy nights. Making my way through the door once again, I reentered the bathroom and shut the door. The cold from the rest of the apartment had already corrupted the warm haven the shower mist had created much to my distaste. Despite the disappointment, I dropped away my towel to quickly put on my pajamas. Then I grabbed my hair brush, running it through my clean black hair in a few effortless sweeps. Flinging the wet towel over the shower rod lazily, I opened the door and walked out casually, Inu-Yasha was sitting on the couch once again with the television on.

"I feel much better!" Sitting on the couch, his weight shifted a bit more to the other side. "Are you planning on going to bed soon?"

"I guess." Inu-Yasha answered bluntly, his eyes fixated on the evening news. "You aren't really going to skip school tomorrow to ask for your job back are you...?" My head turned in his direction as he continued to look at the television.

"Well, of course I am. This job is the only way that we can get by."

"Don't be so worried about me, you're the one who's gotta make it here." He picked up the remote controll, shutting the television off in one click.

"Inu-Yasha, how can you think I would leave you without food? I could never do that." The conversation was growing slightly uncomfortable on my end.

"But, why?" This is when his gaze finally turned over to me. "Why do you even care so much, there's no reason for you to. By now it looks as if my family didn't care about me in the first place. And if they did, don't you think should have come looking for me by now?"

"Please, Inu-Yasha, don't say that. I'm sure you have a family out there who misses you horribly and I want to make sure that you're alive and well when they do find you."

"Right, when they find me." Inu-Yasha breathed out heavily while shutting his eyes momentarily.

"I'm sure they'll find you, after all that's what I wished for on the candles of my cake. It has to come true." I smiled a bit at the childish statement as he reopened his eyes and looked at me.

"I'm going to bed." I looked away knowing I hadn't said the right thing. "But, one thing before I do."

"Yes..?" I looked up meekly.

"Happy birthday." As he got up, he handed me a small box that was wrapped crudely with red wrapping paper and had a stringy silver bow on the top of it.

"What's this?" Taking the box in my hands I looked at him a bit shocked. He went through the trouble of getting me something for my birthday?

"Just open it, I didn't want to be the only one to not do anything, so I just got you that.." Nodding my head, I started to peel away the paper from the white box and the tape that held the box closed. The flap sprung up and a silver picture frame carousel was what I picked up. Spinning it around, I saw the multiple frames that I could fill with my pictures then looked back up at him.

"This is wonderful." I said taking the pictures of my family from the crowded table and putting them in the new frames. Once I had locked the final picture in, I gave it a spin around, the faces of them all meeting my now sleepy eyes. "Inu-Yasha, I love it!"

"It's nothing too big, but I know you really like those pictures." He said slyly. Carefully crumpling up the paper and gathering the old picture frames, I traveled to the kitchen to throw out the paper and place the frames on the counter. I came back into the room and stood in front of him.

"Thank you." I gave him a lose, friendly hug by squeezing his middle slightly. Inu-Yasha patted my back lightly without completing the hug before pulling away from me not entirely returning gaze.

"No problem, Kagome." He turned around and headed towards the room while I sat back down on the couch, placing the carousel on the table top next to my card. I laid on the couch, belly down, to rest my chin on the arm. Spinning the frames around and around, I felt myself getting carried off to sleep and turned around to my back, not even acknowledging the presence of the blanket on the back of the couch.

For some odd reason, the hug that I had given Inu-Yasha had somehow left me feeling warmer than the cold that hung heavily in the apartment from the pure white snow blowing in the wind outside.

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _Hachaa! The long awaited chapter four! I realize that this is a bit shorter than the other chapters, but it's just kind of my way of easing back into this story. I appreciate all you guys have done for me, it really was the reason as to why I'm pushing myself to keep going. Once again I apologize heavily for the delays, I don't believe that I can say I'm sorry enough. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and remember to review your hearts out, I need the inspiration... :sweatdrop: _

_A Friend In Words, _

_--KB_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** _I can really say that it's good to be back writing! Gosh, I didn't realize how much I missed checking my stats every five minutes. (laugh) Thank you to the few of you who reviewed. I truly need to send out a thank you to this person. _

Kagomesbutterflyfeeling_, thank you so much for your inspirational review. I have never gotten so much support in one review! Honestly, I can't even put into words how much it meant to me and how grateful I am. The only thing that I can do is dedicate this chapter to you and hope you enjoy it. Thank you for being one of those people to remind me why I love doing this. _

**DISCLAIMER:** _For those, dare I say, ignorant people who think I own Inu-Yasha: I don't. And as mentioned in every other Inu-Yasha fanfiction, Rumiko Takahashi does. _

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 5 **

"H-hello?" Opening my eyes, I was greeted with nothing but darkness. It was extremely early, not only did the silence in the room alert my ears of that but my inner clock did as well. "Sango? You tried to get my job back? You could have lost your own job! Yes, I understand. All right, I won't be in school tomorrow but I'll see you at work possibly. Okay, thanks Sango. Bye." I heard the click of the phone receiver as I rolled over on the couch and squinted at the clock. It was three in the morning and Sango had just arrived home from Koga's lecture. At this point, I was dreading going to the store myself. The bedroom door then slid across the floor, Inu-Yasha's disheveled from standing in the frame.

"What was that?" He asked scratching his forearm still half asleep.

"It was just Sango on the phone. She tried to get my job back but Koga wouldn't listen to anything. She just got home..." I started feeling guilty for what she had gone through just for my welfare. Sango was sometimes too concerned about me.

"So you really did get fired?" Inu-Yasha walked down the hallway and sat himself on the chair across from me, crossing his arms over his bare chest. Sitting up, I gently got myself over to flip on a light switch. The light was a shock to our pupils as we squinted, the brightness wearing off in a mere seconds.

"Yeah. The jerk really fired me."

"I did a little thinking before I fell asleep." He started out of the blue. "If that idiot won't rehire you, then I'm going to work there. And even if he does rehire you, I guess it'll be good for me to get a job. You know, to get back on my feet so I don't have to stay here." His gaze traveled to the floor.

"Yeah... I suppose that would be good." That's when it hit me, Inu-Yasha was going to leave me eventually, wasn't he? I had almost forgotten about that. It would be so empty in this apartment if he left..

I looked to where he was sitting, the sadness evident in my eyes and noticed that he had lifted himself out of the chair. He walked in front of me over to the table where the gift he gave to me sat shining brightly in the kitchen light. His arm reached out to take the card in his left hand, opening it to read the inside. Inu-Yasha's eyes traveled from the card, to the picture carousel, to me.

"Kagome, I thought you said your father had died." He said referring to the signing of his name at the card. My weak smile dropped as I looked away from him.

"Well, yes, he did."

"Then why are there three signatures? Shouldn't it just be your Mom and brother?"

"My Mother," I started while exhaling. "She likes to still include him in things. Sota and I agreed very early on that we would humor her and it just kind of stuck." Bringing my smile back, I finished my short story. "And it's not all bad, this way, it's like he's still alive." Inu-Yasha dropped the card back in its place, knowing he was in a sensitive subject. Sitting down next to me, my body fell over a bit towards him, his weight pulling the couch from under me. We sat staring ahead for a few very unnerving seconds, him not having to say anything about what he was thinking. I turned to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, I understand why you asked. And now you know." I nodded at him smiling once again. He just seemed to stare at me for the longest time before pulling back from my hand. "What's wrong?"

"Kikyo..." He whispered at me, taking a closer look with his eyes squinted.

"What?" I drew back this time as well. "Who's Kikyo?"

"I'm... Not sure. That name just came into my mind." He looked back at his hands that rested in his lap. My face lit up.

"Inu-Yasha! You're remembering! Is there anything else?" He shook his head. "Well, that's a start. We can maybe find something else out if we find someone named Kikyo." He stood up walking back to the chair he was sitting in before, a look of bewilderment plastered on his face. Inu-Yasha was holding his head up with his hand and arm.

"You shouldn't get so excited, there must be at least a hundred Kikyos in this city alone." His hand balled up into a fist which he lifted his chin to rest on.

"Yeah, I know. But if you stop being so negitive it may help a bit." Inu-Yasha growled deeply, his eyes closed. "Inu-Yasha?" He began to get up and headed down the corridor.

"Feh. I'm going back to bed. Wake me up when we're going to the store." The bedroom door clicked shut leaving me in my own silence. Kicking my feet back up on the couch, I blocked the light out of my face with my hand. I felt sleep clouding my head over in the mist of a dream; the one thing that I made sure stayed perfectly clear was the name Kikyo.

Perhaps that was the name of his sister, or his aunt, or mother. Or maybe it was his girlfriend... I stopped my thought right there not liking where it was going. I had a few more hours to sleep before I had to get up, I was going to take advantage of that. After only a few short minutes I fell back asleep.

XxXxXxX

The sun shone through the glass windows onto my face as I heard noise coming from the left of me. Turning completely over on the couch, my eyes opened slowly as I breathed in the first big gulp of air of the morning. The extra sleep left me much more refreshed; I might just skip out on school more often.

"It's about time you got up." Inu-Yasha's voice took a moment to register in my ears. The sound of boiling water filled the apartment with a soothing hum.

"What time is it?" My voice was still raspy with sleep as I did my best to clear my throat. Saliva from my mouth burned my throat, it was scratchy, no doubt from walking in the cold the night before hand.

"It's late enough."

"You didn't answer my question." I said slinging my legs over to the floor. "What time is it?"

"Quater past eleven."

"Why didn't you wake me!? It's so late!" Shooting up from my sitting position, I didn't wait for the dizzy sensation to take over my head as I ran to my clothing drawer. Picking out a blue turtle neck sweater and a neat pair of slacks, I ran into the bathroom to change. Throwing the clothes on my body, I kicked the ball of nightwear into the corner of the bathroom and reached for the hair brush that sat in its usual spot on the counter. I ran it through my hair until it shined under the vanity lights and I was satisfied with my appearance. Taking a breath and straightening myself, I turned the door knob to walk back out to Inu-Yasha who was sitting on the couch drinking tea while flipping through the channels. "We're going to have to leave now."

He put his cup down which was nearly half full, a bit of the steaming liquid spilling out onto the brown wood of the table and seeping into the cracks. Standing up, I saw for the first time his outfit for the day. His jeans were a darker shade of blue than they usually wore, a clean shirt draping over the top of them. His old red plaid jacket seemed out of place with the outfit but made it look more like himself. Thinking about it, Inu-Yasha must have been serious when he said he would attempt to get a job.

"Ready?" I asked him grabbing my keys off the table and my jacket off the coat rack. He merely grunted, placing his arms behind his head for support. I nodded and opened the door, waiting for him to walk out and closing the door. The hall way held no warmth or sound other than the jingle of my keys as I turned them in the door knob and yanked them back out. Feeling his eyes on my back, I spun around to face him and smiled as I threw my coat over my shoulders for warmth. "If I get rehired I may just stay there and help out Miroku."

Inu-Yasha held no response in his face as he walked down the stairs before me. He opened the door, the bottom of his foot holding the door open for me as he shoved his hands into his pockets for protection against the cold. I gladly walked through the door, my palm coming in contact with the icy cold of it and walked out onto the side walk, breathing in the crisp air and kicking freshly laid powder out from under my feet. The air left my throat in pain; a slight groan rushing from my parted lips.

We had walked about half way to the store in complete silence. The only noises that rang through the street were that of snow plows and children playing in the snow that had given them a day off. Now aching for conversation, I looked to the still gray sky.

"It's going to be a bad winter." I said. "We're only beginning the season and we've already had at least three snow falls."

"Doesn't bother me." Inu-Yasha said blandly. "I like the snow." The comment passed with no sign of emotion. I figured his head was still reeling from what he remembered last night.

"...Have you always liked the snow?"

"I guess so, I like it now, anyway, don't I?"

"I've always liked the snow because when I was little I always knew that my birthday was coming up. It just always lifted my spirits."

"Huh." Inu-Yasha stepped forward, the glass door entrance mere centimeters from his hand. Pulling the metal handle towards himself, he allowed me to go first. I mumbled a shy "thank you" and tapped my shoes off before entering.

The heat was welcoming in the small space as Inu-Yasha and I made our way to the counter. Miroku was kicked back on the box, feet up on the counter, with a newspaper over his face. Shaking my head, I snapped a rubber band at the paper that was carelessly on the surface of the counter top, causing Miroku's legs to fall down immediately. He threw the paper aside then looked up at me with a look of utter confusion.

"Sleeping on the job?" I said slyly.

"Kagome, you scared the crap out of me!" He said putting a hand to his head and leaning his elbow on the counter top.

"Well, next time you shouldn't be sleeping." Laughter scratched at my throat as I swallowed it down with pain. "Have a rough time as school last night?"

"Not as rough a time as I heard you had here last night. Covered in cake _and_ fired. Happy late birthday, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah." Smiling towards him, I turned to look at the stairs. "I'll talk more with you in a little while, first I need to get done what I missed school to do." My shoes scraped against the stairs as I head Miroku and Inu-Yasha start a conversation. I counted the stairs as I went, it still remained unchanged from the last time I had climbed them. I stopped at the sixteenth and knocked the door to find no answer. Then knocking a bit louder, Koga cleared his voice.

"Miroku you better not have messed anything up again!" Was the call I received.

"No, Koga, it's me, Kagome." Pushing the door open a crack, I walked in slowly, his expression remaining solid.

"What."

"I... I came to ask for my job back." Stepping further inside, I sat in the leather chair that I had sat in so many times before. His office was a plain, dark room painted dark green. The only source of light was an old window to the right, covered in years of dirt and smoke. So much so that the street through the window appeared to be surrounded by piles of discolored yellow snow instead of the pure white frost that covered the outdoors. His chair creaked as he leaned back and lit a cigarette, bringing it to his lips, then blowing out a cloud of smoke. He hit the object against the glass tray that sat full of butts on his desk and smirked.

"Is that so."

"Yes, I need this job." Not trying to sound pathetic just went out the door. Koga's smirk widened as he got up and stood at the grimy window with his back to me.

"You realize that your sick days are now cut in half once again and your pay is slightly lower. After all you are a new employee." He turned around to me taking another quick puff on his cigarette.

"Yes, I understand." My tone had gone down.

"And one more slip up like last night and I can promise you that you won't be allowed back here." He sat on the arm on the chair I was sitting in.

"Yes." I tried to remain professional. "Thank you." I stood up and so did he, my eyes quickly traveled to his. His free hand cupped my jaw bone.

"You're such a pretty girl," He drew in on the cigarette and blew the smoke into my face. "How could I say no?" I then ripped myself from his touch and nearly tumbled down the stairs while closing the door, coughing. When I reached the bottom stair, I brought my smile back and stopped my coughing.

"How'd it go?" Miroku questioned.

"I have my job back." I smiled, shakily. I saw Inu-Yasha looking at me strangely. Perhaps he could sense that I was a bit upset. "And since I'm already here I might as well help you out today."

"That'll be great. I need a lot of help with the inventory that you, Kaede, and Sango didn't do last night. I keep getting weird numbers." He said referring to the door of the supply room with his thumb.

"Oh, of course..." How I wished I could say something like, "way to lay on the guilt!" However before I had the chance, Inu-Yasha stood up and walked towards the stairs in which I had just descended. Miroku watched him until he was out of view. We both heard Koga's "come in" and the door open and close.

"So, he wants a job. That may not be great for Kaede, she's dreading being moved to my shift." He laughed.

"You two talked?"

"Of course we did. Don't make me out to be so rude, Kagome!" He said playing up the drama.

"I'm sorry." Stifling a giggle, I slid my coat off and threw it over the counter.

"I think it's nice how he wants to help you out. He's a nice guy."

"I'm glad you think so." My cheeks felt hot. Miroku looked at me and smiled. He walked out of the space between the counter and stood in front of me.

"If we finish the inventory early, we can just relax."

"It seems like you've been doing that all day already." Miroku scoffed at the comment and made a gesture to follow him. I did as prompted and followed him to the back room with a pencil from the front. We began counting the boxes of chips, ramen, dry ingredients, baking goods, and condiments slowly. Twenty minutes afterwards, we were back in the store, taking the inventory of the fresh products when Inu-Yasha's footsteps could be heard coming down the small hallway. He appeared before I fully got to turn around and walked over to us.

"How did it go, Inu-Yasha?" Miroku asked while marking down a few numbers on his clip board. Inu-Yasha shrugged.

"All right I guess. After all, I did get hired." He held out the apron that looked similar to that of Miroku's and the one that I possessed at home.

"Well, what do you know. One more for the New Year's party." Miroku laughed hanging the clipboard back on the supply room wall and closing the door.

"That's great!" I said smiling at him. He nodded back to me and bunched the apron together then tied it under his hair as a head band.

"Except there a'int no way in hell I'm wearing this thing." He said flattening it so his ears stuck up above it. The blue cloth accented his face by pulling his hair back and allowing his messy bangs to come forward. Realizing that I had been staring, I looked away.

"Well, we shouldn't just stand here, there's work to be done." I said slinging myself over the counter. Miroku rolled his eyes and followed my lead as the bell on the door rang, signaling customers.

XxXxXxX

**A/N:**_ Hooray! Another chapter down! And with my sophomore year of high school nearing its end, I will be able to update much sooner. Please send a review my way, I know there are a bunch of you who are reading this, my hits are up by at least 200 since the last chapter. ((WOW, by the way!)) And once again thank you for dealing with my slowness, haha. Exams are coming up soon, wish me luck! _

_'Till Next Time! _

_A Friend In Words, _

_--KB_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** _Well, this summer has been incredibly busy for me ... almost more busy than I am at school! But once again, my hit counter floored me to no end. I'm so proud that I've gotten so many readers! Thank you again to everyone who reviewed, and Kagomesbutterflyfeeling, I hope you are feeling a bit better. And in other news, the Inu-Yasha manga has come to an end; wonderful ending, no? Well, enough babbling. You know the drill, review!! _

**DISCLAIMER:** _Much to my disappointment, if I said that I owned Inu-Yasha, I'd get dragged off to jail due to the lack of cash to pay lawsuits. Rumiko Takahashi owns the wonderful creation of Inu-Yasha, I do not. _

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 6 **

My hands hung lazily over the counter as I sniffled, rather loudly, and groaned. A week, a whole darn week I had this cold and it hadn't gotten any better.

"Kagome, you should have stayed home." Sango said throwing a box of tissues at me.

"Sango, I can't. It's not like I'm deathly sick, I need to save my sick days for something really bad." My voice came out nasal as I sniffed again. Inu-Yasha's heavy foot steps shuffled from the hot water back to the counter as he set down a cup by the tissues.

"At least make an attempt to get better." He scowled. I looked up to see him placing a tea bag into the small styrofoam cup and smiled.

"Thanks guys." I leaned over the cup and breathed in the steam deeply, sneezing upon doing so. Sango sighed and wiped the counter.

School and work had been a nightmare the past week. It was getting unbearably cold in the mornings, getting up was difficult enough with just that factor riding on my shoulders. However, now I was really sick and the usual cold pills weren't working enough for me. In school, I had to support my head to keep myself from falling asleep and once I got home, I didn't do any of my assignments and now, they're all piling up! Then at work, I can't do anything except support myself on the counter... Not exactly the way to get better but it's not like I have a choice.

"I'm kind of sorry that Kaede isn't on this shift now, I could go for some of those crazy herbs of hers." I laughed.

"Nasty things, but they worked." Sango agreed. It was about evening, the late afternoon sun setting behind the large buildings. A few small children came running into the store and over to the candy section. They each grabbed a bar and ran back over to the counter placing them in front of me and smiling. I resisted the urge to cough and rang up their total and held out my hand for their change.

"Do you guys have any more? I don't have enough." The one boy said sadly. The other boys shook their heads as the lead boy looked at me. "Is there anything else we can get for less?" I smiled at them and reached into my pocket for a few yen and placed it in the cash register along with their money. They smiled up at me, all screaming "thank you's" as they ran out the door. I watched them while seeing Miroku almost getting plowed over.

"Woah, you guys need to watch it! Don't slip on the ice!" He called after them and shook his head. "Gotta love kids." He said stepping in and leaning an arm on the counter.

"Miroku! What're you doing here?" I asked blowing my nose.

"I was on my way to school and decided to drop in for some food. That and I'd like to see my dear Sango." He smirked looking over to Sango who was cleaning with her dust rag.

"I'm not "your dear," you idiot." She threw her rag at him playfully, which he caught.

"Inu-Yasha, good to see you at work." Miroku acknowledged him, giving Sango her rag back. Inu-Yasha gave a wave over his shoulder towards him and picked up the broom to sweep. Miroku looked back at me while playing with his ponytail. "Kagome, you don't look too great, what's wrong."

"Worst cold I've ever had." I told him.

"That's too bad." He said making his way over to where we kept the hot water and got a cup of noodles and placed his money on the counter while grabbing chopsticks. I opened the register to put his money in and gave him his change as he began to eat. "So, Sango, I happen to know that you're free on Saturday. Care to catch a movie?" He asked her casually.

"As long as you don't pull any of the stupid crap you tried last time, pervert."

"I told you that you had pop corn on your seat. Must you always think the worst of me?"

"Yes." Sango said stubbornly while looking up at the clock. "Aren't you going to be late?"

"Oh, yes I am." He said leaning on the door to open it. "Sango, I'll call you later. See you, Kagome, Inu-Yasha." I waved lazily as Inu-Yasha continued to work. The door swung closed as we heard the sound of a motor starting and Sango shook her head. I smirked at her while pushing myself off the counter and walking towards Inu-Yasha.

"Why don't I take over? You can relax for a while." I suggested to him holding the broom handle.

"If you want, you shouldn't be pushing yourself too hard, though." He said keeping his eyes on the broom. I was strangely flattered at the attention that he was giving me, I felt cared for.

"Are you sure?" Once I removed my hand I received a nod from him and walked to the counter to sip my tea. I coughed a bit but drank it down, the scratchiness my throat held temporarily relieved.

XxXxXxX

"Kagome, you two want a ride home?" Sango asked me as she stepped outside.

"Actually, that'd be great, Sango, thank you." I said feeling the cold of the wind bellowing through the streets. Inu-Yasha and I climbed into the back of the car gratefully and buckled out seat belts as Sango stepped into the driver's seat and started the car. She turned the heat on as it blasted throughout the car, warming it steadily. The car ride home was quiet (other than my sniffling every few seconds) as the three of us basked in the heat of the car. Sango pulled up in front of the stairs as Inu-Yasha opened the door and slid out, leaving the door open for me. "Thanks, Sango. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah just get out of my car. You're letting all the heat out." She smiled at me. I laughed and got out closing the door and waving to her as she drove off. Inu-Yasha had already made it up the first flight of stairs into the building before I had turned around and therefore had ground to make up. Walking up all the stairs behind him, I took my time and dug out my keys. Inu-Yasha leaned against the wall with his arm crossed and one foot mimicking the position of his back. I pushed the door open with my shoulder after unlocking it and had Inu-Yasha close it after he had entered. The couch made a loud sound as my body landed on it, head down.

"Time to stop being lazy." I scolded myself sitting up and looking over my assignment sheet for school that was in it's usual location on the table. Inu-Yasha was sitting in the chair across from me resting his head against the wall behind him. He reached up to release his hair and ears from his "bandana" as it took the form of the apron he should have been wearing. His eyes scanned over every movement that I made with intensity; before I knew why, a blush had tinged my cheeks and I was avoiding eye contact with him. "Do you want something?" I asked finally getting up enough nerve.

"What are you studying so hard for, anyway?" Inu-Yasha asked plainly. "You never said why you were so determined to get through school."

"Well," A cough interrupted me but I pushed on. "I'm studying to be a criminal investigator. It's been a dream of mine for a while now. That's why Kaede gave me that Ouija board. For some reason she thinks that spirits are the best ways to solve crimes." I let out a laugh before walking across the room to my bag to get out my text books and carried them back over to the couch. Inu-Yasha looked uninterested in the answer I gave him and looked away.

"Oh."

"Yes, I've always wanted to make some sort of a difference in this country. After all, the death of my Father is still unsolved." At this I could see out of the top of my eye that Inu-Yasha had looked back at me. Silently grateful for the attention, I continued. "When he was in the hospital, the doctors told my Mother and I that he had been in a fatal accident at a park. They told us the police report said that he was helping to stop a fight that had broken out with a few teenagers when one of them pulled a knife out and stabbed my Father. However, when the investigation went on further, they suspected foul play in the case and reopened it. It's still going on today."

"That's too bad." He said quietly.

"It is. So my goal is to finish schooling and one day help close cases like this..." My voice trailed off a bit as I swallowed and looked up from my book. "...Because I know how much pain a family can go through when they're left open." Thick silence filled the room, Inu-Yasha's face was unreadable as he searched for something to say. It must have been an hour and a half before he said anything and I had returned to studying. Finally finishing the makeup work that needed to be done, the books were shut as my gaze traveled to him. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with this."

"It's not that, it's just..." Under my gaze, he looked away. "Forget it, I'm going to shower." He said getting up and walking towards the bedroom with a quick pace. Moments later, I saw a flash of him walk into the bathroom and heard the door shut tightly.

"What's his problem..." My voice shocked my ears as it rang out in the apartment. The shaking of my head made my eyes land on the bedroom door. Before I could tell myself to sit back down, my feet were bringing me into the space. I flipped the light switch on and saw the messy bed and clothes scattered on the floor and sighed heavily, a cough racking my body as I did so. The shower started and so did the cleaning of the room. Clothes went into hampers and drawers as the floor became more visible and the bed was made. The closet doors were finally closed without effort as I smacked my hands together, proud of the work that I had done. Only one object caught my attention in the far corner of the room. The Ouija board box seemed to pull me to it as it wound up in my hands and found its way out to the living room with me. I sat it next to the box of tissues on the table and used one while the bathroom door opened, Inu-Yasha emerging in his night ware. His back was turned as he flipped the light on to the bedroom, looking for a minute or two, then looked back to me.

"You didn't have to do that." He said plainly avoiding my eyes and once again sitting across from me. His eyes went straight to the table. "What're you doing with that thing again?"

"Inu-Yasha," I wanted to word this request correctly. "Do you think you would be up for trying this again?" I saw him cock an eye brow and shrug his shoulders.

"If you want..."

"You don't want to."

"Not really."

"But, with the name Kikyo maybe we can-"

"Kagome, don't be and idiot. You don't actually think that board is worth a damn, do you?"

"But last time you.." The truth was, as much as it sounded silly, I did believe in that board. I was having trouble accepting that I did believe because of my persistence in my skeptical ways, but I really did! And even if it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, why had Inu-Yasha gone into that strange stare? "...Don't you remember what happened to you last time? Your human side came through and you went completely blank! You didn't fake that... Did you?" He held no response in his face. "Did you?"

"Fine. You want to do it again, then do it again."

"But I can't do it alone, I need you to do it too, please?" I asked him with a slightly higher pitched voice. He remained unmoved for the longest time before sliding onto the floor.

"I'm only doing this for a few minutes..."

"That's all I need." I said smiling and taking out the board from the box and ringing the bell in all four corners. Inu-Yasha took out the triangular slider and put it to the side. "You ready?"

"Yeah." He said. I placed the slider back on the board, and proceeded to ask questions.

"Hello, um. Inu-Yasha? Are you there?" At first nothing happened; the only sound coming from Inu-Yasha mumbling 'Oh my God' sarcastically under his breath. Despite his protest, the marker slowly moved our hands towards the "yes" on the board. Inu-Yasha remembered what the English word meant and rolled his eyes. "Well, we were just wondering if you could tell us anything about someone named Kikyo." My voice became a bit quieter and the marker seemed to be at a stand still. "Do you know anyone living by the name Kikyo?" I clarified. The marker remained still for a second longer before moving across the board, slowly. My heart dropped as it moved over the "good-bye," meaning that it had left us.

"Well, that was pointless."

"It's because you're skeptical and we're trying to feed off of you." I sighed while taking the marker off the board. "Fine, you don't want to do it? Then we won't." I also took the board off the table and placed it in the box and slid it to the other side of the room. We both sat silenced by our anger at one another before a sneeze broke quietness that the room held. Inu-Yasha stood up and took my arm in his hand, pulling me up with the action. "What're you-"

"Tonight, you're sleeping in the bed." His gaze was as stern as his voice.

"But why? I'm fine on the couch."

"Well, you aren't getting any better on the couch." It seemed as if his caring tone surprised even himself as he searched for something the add to the end of the statement. "...And I'm really tired of hearing you complain." Inu-Yasha bent down to pick up the tissue box with his free hand while pulling me towards the room. I blushed horribly at the action while hiding it behind my used tissue that was still in the palm of my hand. Once he had pulled me into the room, he let go of my wrist and shoved the tissue box at me. "Just go to bed." His back turned to me as he walked towards the door.

"Inu-Yasha," His name left my lips before I could think of what to say to him. "Um... Thank you."

"...You're too polite for your own good, sometimes, you know that?" Inu-Yasha smirked a bit. Or maybe it wasn't a smirk... Was it a smile? Either way I felt my blush appearing back on my cheeks; for my lack of words, I nodded like a moron and smiled back.

"Good night." I said quietly. He nodded and closed the door, the silence of the room ringing in my ears. Walking to the foot of the bed, I fell backwards onto it. It had been a while since I had slept in my own bed, Inu-Yasha had been sleeping here for so long. My arm still felt warm and at that thought I could feel my heart start to beat a bit faster. I sneezed again and blew my nose, then changed into some pajamas before crawling under the covers. My body collapsed under the warm sheets as I drifted to sleep, my heart still pounding against my ribs.

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _Hmm this seemed like a bit of a short chapter but it took a lot of planning with the whole career thing. Well, I'm terribly sorry that I didn't keep my promise of updating more frequently, but please please review! Reviews are the food that us authoresses need to survive! Not only that, but my birthday is in two weeks, that'd make a great present for me, hah. Thanks for reading, _

_'Till Next Time! _

_--KB_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: **__Hello everyone! Now that my birthday is over, I can update like I wanted to! Thank you all SO, SO, SO much for all the wonderful reviews last time. They really made me smile. So, last time was really just a whole chapter of tying up loose ends, so this chapter should be a bit more exciting. So anyways, onto chapter 7! ((And wow, this story has been out for over a year already… I should get going o.o…))_

**DISCLAIMER: **_After seven chapters, I think you'd realize I don't own Inu-Yasha. Well, for those of you who still don't understand that, I still don't own it, Takahashi-Sensei does._

**Remembering What Was Never There****Chapter 7 **

"Happy New Year!!" Everyone yelled except for Inu-Yasha who sat in the corner with a glass in his hand. In the distance, we could all hear the loud bangs of fireworks and yelling of people through the street who were celebrating the new year. Miroku, Sango, and I all held bright smiles on our faces as Inu-Yasha stared out the window and past the television where our vision was fixed.

"I can't believe that it's 2004 already." Sango said more happy than anything.

"Yes, let's make it the best year yet!" Miroku proclaimed while raising his arm up with his glass of champagne. Sango and I clunked glasses with him before drinking the remainder of the bubbly liquid. When I set the glass down on the table, I walked over towards Inu-Yasha who watched me as I approached.

"Aren't you having any fun?" I asked cocking my head over to my left shoulder. He looked at me dully."Yeah, a blast." He said flatly. Sighing, I sat on the arm of the chair next to him and jokingly put my arm around him.

"You can't expect me to believe that, can you?" Inu-Yasha squirmed under my touch as I recoiled my arm. "Come on, have fun with us!" I pulled him by his free hand to the two that were talking.

"You know, Sango, it's supposed to be good luck if you get kissed at midnight." Miroku winked.

"Nice try, it's 12:01, too late, lover boy." Sango said burring her lips in nothing but her glass.

"Can you believe this, Inu-Yasha?" Miroku said over dramatically to get him into the conversation. "How can women be so cruel?!"

"If It came to you, I'd be cruel too." Inu-Yasha huffed rolling his eyes. Miroku put the back of his hand to his forehead and groaned.

"It looks like your studies are going to good use." I laughed. Miroku was training to get a degree in dramatics and performing arts. He never said if he wanted to become a teacher but, I always assumed that's what he was aiming for.

"Yes, yes they are." He smirked. "So, we all don't have to go to work or school tomorrow, what do you say we kick back and get hammered?"

"I have to drive home." Sango said irritably.

"Sango, you've already had one, you shouldn't drive with that." I piped in. "Why don't you guys just stay here for the night?"

"See, Sango? Have some fun!" Miroku poked her in the arm. Sango responded by smacking the top of his hand and sighed, pulling out her car keys. She threw them into the kitchen, creating a jingle through the entire apartment.

"I guess this once."

"I'll get the drinks!" Miroku cheered running to the kitchen.

"I think you're already wasted." Inu-Yasha said gruffly causing laughter to come from Sango.

"He's got you there!" She pointed at him. Miroku made a face from the kitchen while picking up the bag filled with things he had brought over from out of the fridge.

"Any food in there?" I asked as my stomach growled.

"There's some chips."

"Toss them!" Miroku followed the command and tossed the bag to me. It went over my head as Inu-Yasha caught them with his free hand. He held the bag to me, a blush across my face from embarrassment. "Thanks." I opened the bag, with little problem, and took a chip that was still cold from the fridge.

We all had a few drinks each (including Inu-Yasha!) and before we knew it, it was about three in the morning. Miroku and Sango had passed out on the couch together, Sango hanging over one arm of the couch and Miroku looking as if he was trying to lean on her. I laughed at the scene that was in front of me quietly as I turned around to see Inu-Yasha cleaning up all the dishes. He was staggering a bit, no doubt from the alcohol in his system, and making trips back and forth between the table and the kitchen sink. I had no more balance than he did but walked over to help him, regardless.

"You don't need to clean this up, why don't you just go to bed?" I suggested putting light finger tips on the small snack plate he held.

"We might as well do it now, it's here shouldn't we?" Inu-Yasha replied smartly. I let the plate go and watched him walk into the kitchen. It was strange, he had had the most to drink out of all of us and yet Miroku, Sango and I were all much worse off than he was. Could that be yet another advantage of being a half-demon? That the demon blood in him was so powerful that it could even dilute the alcohol he had consumed? I watched as his long silver hair flipped over his shoulder gracefully as he turned around to find me staring. "What's wrong now? You really 'otta get that staring thing of yours checked out." He smirked.

"Oh, shut it." I said rolling my eyes. "Since when are you so concerned about my health anyways?" Plopping down on the chair where he usually resided, I crossed my arms and painted a smirk on my own face.

"I…" He seemed to have to think about it. "…You are the one taking care of me, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"If you're gone, that's it for me, you know." Inu-Yasha wasn't looking at me while he was saying this. I think that fact was the worst part of the conversation.

"Well, yes, I know that but still," I stood up in front of him in a failed attempt to get him to look at me. "You don't seem like one to want to think about things like that."

"Yeah… Just forget it. It's not important." Inu-Yasha said going to pick up another plate. Once again, I was being pushed away. Through all the time we had spent together and he still wouldn't allow me to see anything he was feeling. Tired of the same old response, I retaliated.

"It's important enough to be bothering you! "It's not important." It's never important, I'm tired of hearing that!" I said rather loudly. It may have just been the drinks but at that moment I felt like I had to do something. I grabbed his shoulders in my hands and pulled him up to look at me. "Inu-Yasha, if something's bothering you, I want you to tell me! Not hide it from me.."

"K-Kagome.."

"Inu-Yasha, tell me what's wrong… Please, I want to help you." My sentence faded towards the end and so did my grip on his shoulders. However, I still felt my sinking head burning under the intensity of his gaze. It was quite alarming that someone could hold that kind of power in their eyes alone. Almost afraid, I lifted my head back up to face him and breathed out, feeling the prick of tears on the back of my eyes. "Don't you trust me by now?"

"Kagome, I-I…" He stood back from me by swivel stepping. "Look, I think you're a bit tipsy from tonight, just go to bed and we'll talk in the morning."

"No, I won't." I said sternly stepping towards him firmly. "Tell me what's wrong!" I held my clenched fists at my sides and tried my best to scowl. I must have failed miserably because Inu-Yasha burst into laughter right in my face. "What's so funny?" I demanded.

"Nothing, but is that your serious face or something?" He said pointing a clawed finger at me and laughing harder.

"Yes, as a matter of fact it is. Why?"

"Because," Inu-Yasha stopped his laughter to look at me with a softer smile. "The only thing that that face is doing is making you look cute, not angry." He said laughing again. I stepped back, my stomach slamming against everything in my torso.

'Cute?' He thinks the face I'm making is… 'Cute?' Where did that come from?

"Inu-Yasha… What do you-" I was cut off by a loud rapping on the door. Both of us looked over to the door as if to see who was standing on the other side simply by performing the action. When the first knock wasn't answered, the second round of knocking came even louder, even waking up Miroku and Sango this time.

"W-what in the hell is that?" Sango said holding her head and looking at the clock.

"It's the door, I'll get it, just relax." I told her while crossing the room to the door. The third set of knocks came just as I opened the door a crack to see who it was. "Yes?"

"Ms. Higurashi?"

"Yes, that's me."

"We're with the police department, we were wondering if we could perhaps ask you a few questions." One of the men said while keeping his distance from the door to prove he was not of any threat.

"Yes, of course. Come in." I opened the door completely, three police officers stepped in the door way as I switched on the light in the kitchen and heard Miroku and Sango groan, no doubt already feeling their hangovers. "Excuse us, we had a party before."

"It's of no concern." The first police officer said with a smile. "My name is Detective Rensuke." The man extended his hand towards me and kept his smile. I took his hand and shook it firmly, taking in his features. He had short shaggy black hair and clear green eyes. He seemed too innocent to be a detective, at least one of those really intense detectives you always see on those television shows.

"And what can I do for you?"

"Well, we're here to ask a few questions about the man that you've been… Taking care of, shall we say." His eyes traveled from me to over my shoulder. I knew he was looking straight at Inu-Yasha, and that worried me.

"Okay…" I was starting to get increasingly nervous about the whole situation now.

"Well Ms. Higurashi, we've come to understand that you've taken him in because of his lack of memory and place to go, is this correct?"

"Yes, it is, but how did you find all this out?"

"By a caller who wishes to remain anonyms." The Detective said to me quietly.

"But who would know all this about me?"

"I'm sorry but that information is classified." He said officially. "Anyway, back on target. We would like to know if you have found out anything about him in the weeks he's been staying here."

"Now see here…" I heard Sango get up from the couch. "Kagome is doing everything in her power to help, don't go penalizing her for anything she's done."

"I can assure you, ma'am, that that isn't our intention." He smiled at her warmly as Miroku pulled Sango down lightly to sit quietly. "We simply would like any and all information we can get to possibly reunite him with his family." I turned from the couple on the couch to Inu-Yasha who was standing there blankly. His eyes begged me to stay quiet.

"The only things that I know, Detective, are his first name, the fact that he's a half-demon, and something with the name Kikyo." The room was filled with silence, not protest from Inu-Yasha, no sighs of relief, only the feeling that accompanied silent betrayal.

"I see." Once these words were spoken, there was silence as the Detective spoke to the two other cops. I took advantage of the time to turn to Inu-Yasha and read his expression. He seemed to have his normal scowl on, the only difference in him was the one dog ear that was turned slightly to listen into the conversation. "W-well, how do you know his name if he has amnesia?""Oh, right," I paused to look at Inu-Yasha, almost to ask his permission but turned back once I realized he wasn't facing me. "He had his driver's license but everything was taken off of it except for his first name."

"I see," He said again while looking towards Inu-Yasha. "May I see the license, please?" Inu-Yasha remained still for a moment before reaching into the back pocket of his jeans to pull out his wallet. He walked over to the Detective and held out the slim piece of white plastic in between his pointer and middle fingers. "Thank you." Once the object left his hand, Inu-Yasha walked back behind me, just a little closer than before.

"Hm," Detective Rensuke turned to the officers and nodded at them. "Please excuse us for a few minutes." He said before excusing himself and the others out the door. Once the door clicked shut, Inu-Yasha pulled my shoulder back to him, forcing my eyes up to his."What the hell is wrong with you? They're going to take me away now!" Inu-Yasha practically screamed at me."Inu-Yasha, they're going to help you!" I protested, throwing my shoulder out of his grip. Looking to Miroku and Sango for any support, I realized I was alone in my thinking. The two refused eye contact. For the next few minutes, we all stood quiet, not looking at anything but the blank air in front of us. It took the creaking of the door to jolt us back to what was happening. My heart froze as I saw the look on the cops' faces as they stepped past me to both take one of Inu-Yasha's shoulders. "Wait what're you-"

"Ms. Higurashi, we're going to have to take Inu-Yasha down to the station for a little bit." Rensuke smiled a bit too widely. The cops began to take him out, Inu-Yasha's eyes shooting over his shoulder with his eye brows raised at me.

"What're you going to do to him!?" I choked out, scared out of my wits."I'm afraid I can't tell you that." He replied bowing. "Thank you for your trouble and sorry for disturbing you." The Detective shut the door as I heard a motor starting. There was a long pause before a door opened and closed, then a car whipped down the street. I felt hot tears run down my face as I leapt for the door.

"Oh my God, Inu-Yasha!" I screamed at the top of my lungs while grabbing for the door knob.

"Kagome, wait…" Sango said getting up and grabbing my hand in hers. "You said yourself they just want to help Inu-Yasha."

"But Sango, if they were going to do that, why wouldn't they just tell me?" I cried out.

"It's a police matter. They aren't allowed to reveal anything until the situation is cleared up." Miroku chimed in, still refusing eye contact with me or Sango. I was quiet, allowing Sango's grip on my hand to hold me up as tears dripped from my face to the floor. After a moment of getting my senses back, I breathed in.

"Sango… I need your car."

"What?"

"Please, Sango, if you don't trust me then you can drive me; but I have to go get him." My voice took on a pleading tone as she looked to the side of Miroku's head. Her sigh reached my ears as she nodded.

"All right." She said traveling to the kitchen and grabbing her keys. "Let's go." Miroku's head shot up as Sango walked to the door. His face was unreadable, which concerned me but I paid no mind to it as I followed Sango without even putting on a jacket. Miroku grabbed my keys and locked the apartment door behind us as we all traveled down the stairs and piled into the car. I stayed in the back seat so Miroku could ride up front with Sango. "If the heat's too much, let me know." Those were the only words spoken on the way to the station; the hum of the heater in the car was enough to keep us quiet. As we turned down the multiple streets, I found myself shifting more and more in the seat, making Miroku extremely uncomfortable as well. His eyes started to travel towards me before stopping and reverting to the direction they were in previously. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the car pulled over to a curb and the heater's hum stopped. I opened the door and stepped out, walking to the short stairwell in front of the police station. Climbing the four stairs, I shoved the door open, being thrown into almost a different world.

"Ma'am, you can't go back there!!" I heard screamed at me. However, I ignored it and pushed to the back rooms, where I found a large desk with a chair in front of it. Detective Rensuke sat at the desk while Inu-Yasha was seated in the chair, handcuffed.

"Inu-Yasha!" I said, almost too surprised to speak.

"Ms. Higurashi, how did you get this far without security getting you?" The Detective asked rather rudely, completely different from the person he was at my apartment.

"I came to get Inu-Yasha."

"Kagome…" Inu-Yasha trailed off while turning his head to look at me.

"I'm afraid that's quite impossible." He said stepping out from behind the desk. He waved his hand as two cops came out of the hallway behind me. Half expecting to be brought out of the station by them, I winced. However, instead of grabbing me, they walked past me to Inu-Yasha and pulled him up out of the chair. The began pushing him to the left of the room and I swear, I could feel my blood stop flowing. The left side of the room was a row of cells, with thick steel bars in the front. I watched as they pushed Inu-Yasha into a cell and removed the handcuffs nearly yanking his arm off with them. They locked the door and walked away, without even looking at me.

"What is the meaning of this!?" I shrieked at the Detective.

"Ms. Higurashi, we brought Inu-Yasha down here to figure out if we could find out anything about him." He started. "And we did. Kagome, we suspect that Inu-Yasha was involved with an incident a few weeks ago. One that could put him away for a very long time." My eyes traveled to Inu-Yasha who stood gripping the bars in front of him. That was, to this very day, the most vulnerable I had ever seen Inu-Yasha. My heart ached as he spoke to me in almost a small child's voice:

"Kagome… Help me…"

XxXxXxX

**A/N: **_Ahhhh the dreaded cliff hanger. Well, I've got the story completely outlined, finally. So hopefully now I can update sooner. You must be getting tired of hearing how sorry I am for the delays so I just won't say it anymore ((Heh…)). So anyways, leave your comments and such in the form of a wonderful little review and I'll love you forever! Thank you everyone!_

'_Till Next Time!_

_A Friend In Words,_

_--KB_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: **__Hey everyone, sorry for the weird formatting thing last chapter… It was strange. Paragraphs were squashed together and stuff… But anyway, thank you guys so much for all the wonderful reviews and alerts! I keep getting more and more excited as this goes on! I hope the feeling is that way for you too, so enjoy the next chapter. And I can now happily say that this story has broken 1,000 hits and is far past it already!! THANK YOU!_

**DISCLAIMER: **_Yet again, I don't own Inu-Yasha. Yet again, Rumiko Takahashi does. ((By the way, October 10__th__, happy late, late, late birthday, Takahashi-Sensei!))_

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 8**

Everything was such a blur.

My head felt so heavy as it rested in my hands. The morning light poked through the windows to my apartment, teasing my hung over eyes with its brightness. It had been at least a few hours since the police had to escort me out of the station and drove me home. The last things I could remember were watching Miroku talk to Inu-Yasha and Sango trying to drive after the police when they put me in their car. I lost sight of where she and her car were about half way home and figured she had given up or her head ache had gotten worse and she turned around… but…

Whatever happened, I had no idea of, the only thing that I had been doing for the past few hours was crying into the palms of my hands.

'Wonderful way to start off the New Year.' My mind screamed to itself as I looked up to the illuminated living room. It was strange, even with the warmth and light the sun provided my apartment, it felt so cold and dark. It was silent and I was alone.

Only once Inu-Yasha's absence sunk in, I began to understand how much I took his company for granted. Just the simple things he did like, leaving the kitchen light on, slamming doors, or mumbling in sleep… I missed all those things more than I could have ever imagined I would at that very moment. The lack of him being there just made me feel so… Just so damn empty…

The phone ringing snapped me out of the thought process before my brain could tell my tears to kick in once again. Startled, I picked up the phone with great speed and sniffled a bit before saying anything.

"H-hello?"

"Kagome, it's me, Miroku." It was strange, his voice seemed distant and rough. It worried me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. How's Inu-Yasha?"

"Well, it took a lot to calm him down but he's okay. But there's something else that happened this morning when the police took you home."

"Oh?"

"Kagome… Sango got into an accident." My heart stopped.

"W-what?""When she was driving after you. The police said it was no doubt from pushing herself with the alcohol in her system. Apparently she just couldn't stay alert anymore and missed a turn… She's in the hospital right now."

"Oh my God, Miroku, is there any way you can get me there?"

"Yes, I'm with her right now. She's awake but she's still really out of it. I'll come pick you up in about two hours when lunch is served to the patients, is that alright?."

"Yes, thank you, Miroku, tell Sango I'm coming." I heard him say no problem and hung up the phone. "This is all my fault.." I cursed myself and found that my eyes could leak no more tears. It really felt like everything around me was crumbling; and in a situation like that, what's one to do?

I exhaled rather loudly and picked myself up from the couch, traveling to the bathroom and flipping the lights on. Slowly peeling my clothes off, I stepped into the frigid shower and turned the water on, letting it pound on my head, relieving the pain temporarily. Warmth filled the room as I let all my thoughts be washed away with the water and down the drain. Reaching for my shampoo, I felt Inu-Yasha's body wash bottle hit my hand with it's odd shape and fall to the ground with a loud 'thump.' A sinking feeling reentered my body as I went to pick it up, all those thoughts I had just gotten rid of were back. Placing the object back in its correct spot, I squeezed some of my shampoo in my hand and pushed it through my hair.

Once I felt clean enough, the water was turned off with a few squeaks of the levers. I felt refreshed and my headache had subsided for the most part. My feet came in contact with the cold tile floor outside the shower as my arm extended for a towel. Instead of reaching for my fuzzy yellow towel like I always did, my finger tips fell to Inu-Yasha's green towel. Before thinking about it, I wrapped it around my body, the scent of his shampoo and soap encircling me as the fabric did. My smile was short lived as I dropped his towel to turn around and stare at myself in the foggy mirror.

"What's the matter with me…" I asked while rubbing away the fog, making water drip to the bottom of the mirror and splash on the sink. I scanned my form that was now shaking from the cold and eventually went back the swollen puff balls that were looking at themselves. My body slid down to the floor as I drew my knees into my torso. "Why do I miss him so much…" I kept asking myself that question as my tears leaked onto the tops of my knee caps.

I guided the towel to dry my cheeks, the scent of Inu-Yasha entering my nose and clearing my mind. Once I realized I could think, my eyes shot open with a sudden feeling of realization. The towel fell back to the floor, my mind racing with new thoughts.

'Oh my God, no! No, no, no, no, no, no!' I kept myself from screaming. However, I felt a whimper escape my lips followed by words. "How did this happen… How could I fall in love so fast?" My voice trailed off to a hallow whisper, leaving my body cold and empty.

XxXxXxX

"Afternoon, Kagome." Miroku forced out a smile in my direction as I put on my coat.

"Thanks again." My voice was blank as my eyes stayed glued to the floor. Miroku said nothing and closed the door behind me and checked to make sure it was locked. I sloppily walked down the stairs and to Miroku's car, waiting with my hand on the blue handle. The door clicked, signaling the lock opening, as the lever pulled up and the door swung open. It was still warm in the car from the previous minutes, much to my relief. I sat down and listened as Miroku sat down, buckled up, and started the car.

"Sango will be happy to see you," He said. "She's been asking for you all morning." I felt a smile tug at my lips but chose to keep it at bay.

"Well, I'm coming now." The car slowed to a halt at a traffic light and Miroku's gaze shifted to my cheek.

"Kagome, is something bothering you? You're not yourself..."

"Huh?" I turned to him. "Oh, yeah, I'm just a little upset over everything is all. I'll be okay." Miroku kept his concerned gaze on me before turning back to the road as the light changed. The rest of the ride was a one sided attempt to get me to talk but I had far too much on my mind at the moment. When the car ceased to move anymore, a huge weight seemed lifted, I wouldn't be forced to talk anymore. Miroku opened my door for me and locked it after I got out. He lead me into the hospital, the stale smell of sickness and cleaning products turning my stomach. Walking up to the nurses desk, a young woman smiled at Miroku and nodded, signaling it was all right for me to venture to see Sango. I followed Miroku down a few corridors before he stopped in front of a door that he shoved open with his shoulder. I saw nothing but bed and feet and ventured in.

"Sango, look who's here!" Miroku said sweetly, moving past me in a swift motion. Sango's eyes, that were glued to the television in front of her, moved to me as her mouth turned upwards in a smile.

"K… gome." She smiled bigger. Her head was bandaged heavily and she looked really out of it. It was heartbreaking to see her like that. I moved over to her, mindful of the maze of wires that she was hooked up to, and crouched down at the bed side.

"Sango, what happened?" I asked her pushing down the lump in my throat.

"I blacked out." Sango passed through her lips in a slurred sentence. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?"

"Kagome… they'll come after you next and they-"

"Now, now, Sango hush." Miroku said quickly. "It's her medication, she's really not herself."

"Yes I am…" She protested, smacking Miroku's arm lightly.

"I think it's time for you to go back to bed." He said with a slight frown.

"Damn it, Miroku, let me talk!" She yelled at him in a high pitched voice that I had never heard before. Sango was nearly frantic, it was scaring me.

"Kagome, perhaps this isn't the best time...." Miroku said nearly pushing me out the door.

"B-but Miroku-!"

"Kagome, please go!" He said closing the door nearly in my face. As I walked down the hallway, I could hear Sango screaming curses at Miroku and the "Kagome get back here" all the way to the front doors. Once I stepped outside, I wanted to go straight home. However, my feet ignored the command as they headed into town, towards the police station.

XxXxXxX

"So, Sango's in pretty bad shape, huh?" Inu-Yasha asked me through the bars of the prison cell. I nodded.

"What happened to her seems so weird, she was fine driving up until she started following me…"

"She was probably just really upset and gave into the alcohol, don't go blaming yourself." He said.

"I know, I just feel bad." I admitted.

"Well, don't." Inu-Yasha smiled to try to get the same affect on me and, much to my dismay, he was successful. "So the jackass Detective told me this morning that if they can't confirm these charges I get to go home."

"Really?" I cocked an eye brow.

"Yeah, I don't know if I can trust that guy as far as I can throw him but for now, I'll try to believe it." Inu-Yasha continued to smile at me before standing up from his cross legged sitting position on the floor. "Look, maybe you should go home and get some sleep, you look awful."

"Thanks." I felt my eyes roll. "But one other thing I wanted to ask you before I left."

"Yeah, what?"

"What did you and Miroku talk about last night? You both looked like you were in deep conversation."

"We… Just talked." He replied rather bluntly.

"About what?"

"Nothing, Kagome, we just talked about what was going on." The fact that he wanted to get off the subject made me want to know what they spoke about even more.

"It must have been _something_." I said putting emphasis on the last word. "…Or else I don't think you'd be going out of your way to keep it a secret."

"Damn it, I told you it's nothing! Now drop it!" Inu-Yasha's voice echoed through the station, the security coming back to see if everything was okay.

"Okay, okay, okay," I said in a more hushed tone. "I'll try to stop by tomorrow before work, all right?"

"Feh, whatever." He scoffed. Not bothering to say goodbye, I walked the front of the station and walked out.

"Geeze, he's getting moodier everyday…" I was worried, though. It was normal for Inu-Yasha to keep things from me but he never got this mad when I pushed him for answers before. I kept my eyes down on the side walk to keep my tired eyes from the sight of others. For the first time in a few months, the pavement was visible, there had been no snow for quite some time now. It was an almost refreshing change. A car horn blasted in my ear and startled me into looking up, the said car sitting next to the curb with the window rolled down.

"Kagome!" A voice called to me from inside. As my eyes adjusted, my face turned into a deep frown.

"Hi, Koga…"

"Word on the street is your little roommate was sent to the slammer. How sad."

"How'd you find out about that?!" I nearly jumped at the car.

"Eh, from different people. You must be lonely, want some company?"

"That's the last thing I want." I mumbled.

"Well, then, I'll see you at work tomorrow, don't be late!" Koga sneered before honking the horn again and driving off.

"Creep…" I sighed before continuing to walk. Great, now word was going everywhere about my personal life. Suddenly, I felt as if everyone knew where I was coming from and what I was doing. The thought made me squirm a bit as I kept my head even lower, fighting my way home against the cold winter wind. The rest of the trip back to my apartment was spent thinking of possible was Koga could have known what had happened and what Miroku and Inu-Yasha were hiding from me. I felt like a small child digging through a closet for their Christmas present and being unsuccessful because they were located above my head on the shelf I could never reach. The feeling was quite disheartening.

My coat plopped to the floor with my keys and shoes, my body shivering a bit as I made my way over to the couch and grabbed the blanket off the back of it, wrapping my body. Sitting on the couch, I kicked my feet up onto the coffee table, allowing my head to loll to my shoulder. Upon doing so, the red blinking light of the answering machine caught my attention as my arm hit it lightly. After the beep I listened to the message, getting more and more intrigued as it went on.

"Hey Kagome, it's Miroku. I guess you're still out. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the hospital incident… Sango's a little, well, messed up from the accident. I guess she's a little confused as to what happened as I'm sure you understand. She's insisting that someone caused her accident, which is ridiculous, you'll agree. So, when you get this message, call me… Please? I'm sorry and maybe I'll stop by the store before school tomorrow. You have to work right? I'll see you then… Bye."

Call me crazy, but I swear, there was something strange in the way that he gave me this message. He wasn't the normal Miroku that I had grown accustomed to, the nervous laughter as he said "someone caused her accident, which is ridiculous" seemed… Dare I say, suspiciously placed and it bothered me greatly. Anyone within a ten mile view of Miroku and Sango could tell he was in love with her, why would he ever laugh about something that horrific that had just happened to her?

I mean, if something like that happened to me and someone was talking about it would they laugh? They wouldn't right?

Inu-Yasha flashed through my mind. I then tried to think about how he would react to a situation like that and found the task harder than I previously had thought it would be. He would have to be at least a little upset. I wasn't expecting full out water-works from him but knowing he cared would be at least a little rewarding.

"Heh, what horrible thinking." I passed through my lips quietly as my thumb and pointer rubbed the bridge of my nose. My left hand reached out and grabbed the phone, dialing the numbers that I knew so well.

"Miroku? Hey, it's me. Yeah I got your message…"

XxXxXxX

**A/N: **_This one took me a while. There's A LOT going on. And my busy choir schedule isn't helping much…_

**Listen everyone****: **_I was thinking about raising the rating to 'M' because I think I could do more with the story that way. I assure you there will be NOTHING that horrible to the point of me losing the younger readers, just more intense language and possibly a little more violence. Anddddd a little bit of citrus content. ((Nothing that intense, I promise.)) Well, let me know what you think, I REALLY need your input on it. Thank you!_

'_Till Next Time!_

_A Friend In Words,_

_--KB_


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:**_Well, I only got feedback from one person about the rating and I've decided to up it to M so I can have more fun. I like I mentioned before, nothing will be that bad, language may go up and there will be citrus content but that's really all, no lemons. Thank you for understanding and thank so much for the wonderful reviews, they are all appreciated and taken to Oh-nine to all!_

**DISCLAIMER: **_I don't own Inu-Yasha unless Rumiko Takahashi left Inu-Yasha and the gang under my tree with a bow on and I didn't see them… Which I doubt…._

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 9**

My chapped lips tightened into a straight line as I walked quickly across town from school to work. Sango was still in the hospital and I hadn't realized how much I relied on her to keep me warm. The bustle of the afternoon city was enough to keep anyone moving. Although Osaka wasn't really as busy as Tokyo was, the streets were always packed around the time I got out of school. Business men and women all hopped in their cars and walked quickly to their homes where their families would be there to grin and say "welcome home!" As the envy of their luck started to settle into my mind, I leaned on the glass door that was plastered with new adds for cigarettes and drinks and nearly fell into the store. A smirk was waiting for me as I did so.

"Well, you got here fast, it must be cold out."

"It's colder out there then I've felt all winter. Inu-Yasha, we need to pitch in and buy ourselves a car." I smiled while pulling out my rolled up apron from my coat pocket before shoving the puffy piece of clothing behind the counter. Inu-Yasha had been home for a few days now, strangely enough the words spoken by the detective were truthful and Inu-Yasha surprised me by walking home and knocking on the door. Needless to say, I was thrilled. "So, what's on the agenda for work today?" I asked slipping the neck loop over my head and lifting my ponytail out of it. As I struggled to tie the back, Inu-Yasha sighed and came over to tie it for me.

"You know, the usual crap that the idiot has us do… Moving stuff from over there and putting it here, then when he gets bored with it here fifteen minutes later we move it back over there." He said with sarcasm while tightening the bow on my waist. He stepped out in front of me as I smiled.

"Thanks. I guess I'll just clean the floors, I haven't done that in a while." Walking to the back room where the inventory clip board hung on the wall, I grabbed the mop. Looking at the board with the pencil dangling close to my hand made me think of Miroku. He hadn't dropped by work like he said he would, as a matter of fact I hadn't heard anything about him since I called him. However, I just brushed it off figuring that he was at the hospital with Sango. Perhaps I was putting too much faith in the man but what else could I do at this point?

Inu-Yasha approached me as my hand was on the wood of the mop. He walked to the object and pulled it gently from my hand, the hair that was held back by the apron-turned-headband falling past his shoulders as he shook his head.

"You might as well not, the kids are going to come skating in here and drag all the mud and snow in with them. You'd be cleaning for nothing."

"I suppose you're right." I sighed before walking back to the front of the store with him at my side. "This place really is boring sometimes."

"Yeah…" The conversation had hit one of those awkward silences that neither of us could break. Inu-Yasha put the back of his arms against the counter, leaning at a slight angle with the action. I stole glances at him while he was looking the other way until the bell to the front door surprised us both. It seemed like one of those movie moments where the light shines through the windows to illuminate the person standing before you.

"Sango?!" I breathed, still not believing it was her.

"What the hell are you doing back here?" Inu-Yasha asked almost in the same airy breath that I had.

"I really needed to get out of there, so I checked myself out." Once she spoke, I was sure that I was hallucinating, however she seemed so… empty. Her face was pale, her long hair was left loose instead of the pony tail I was accustomed to seeing her with, and her eyes didn't have the usual pink makeup dusted over them as they usually did. Then one question popped into my mind, pushing all other thoughts aside.

"Does Miroku know you checked out?"

"Heh," Sango put on her nervous smile. "I really don't think he cares right now. Ever since I went into the hospital, he's acted as if everything I remember about my accident is just me losing my mind. Then a few days ago, he stopped visiting me all together, he won't even pick up the phone for me anymore."

Inu-Yasha and I were silent. How on earth could Miroku ever just stop talking to Sango? Something was wrong here… Something was very, very wrong.

"I'm…" I couldn't think of anything to say. The look of pain the Sango held was similar to that of which I looked when Inu-Yasha was first taken away from me. "Sango, I'm so sorry." At my statement she merely shook her head.

"Let's just forget about it." She said with her voice cracking before returning to her usual light tone. "I'm sure that the old demon upstairs will jump at the chance to fire me now, let's get to work." It looked as if we were going to pretend that the entire conversation had never happened. It was hard, though, our conversations seemed weighed down the entire night. The situation seemed to feel like we were hiding an elephant under an area rug, it clung to us.

Finally, after a feel uncomfortable hours, it was time to go home. Kaede walked through the door with her cute little smile on her face that lit up more as she saw Sango.

"Thank the heavens that you are all right, child." She said while giving her a hug and reaching into her coat pocket. "I've been saving these for when you got back." Kaede held out a small plastic baggie with leaves in it. "Herbs for headaches." She explained while keeping her smile.

"Thank you." Sango said plainly before walking out. I said my goodnights to the woman and walked out behind Sango with Inu-Yasha in tow out into the fresh air of the night. I looked to all the parking spaces outside the shop and of course, Miroku's car was nowhere to be found. Sango's look of happiness turned to disappointment as I realized she saw the lack of presence as well.

"Say, Sango?" I piped up sort of quietly.

"Hm?"

"How about you, me, and Inu-Yasha go out to dinner tonight? Our treat." I suggested, wanting to get things off her mind.

"Kagome… Don't waste your money on me. You need it." She said turning around to face me.

"Oh, I'm not that bad off anymore. With Inu-Yasha working, we have a lot of extra money… Besides, think of it as me repaying you for the gas I've used in your car." I laughed.

"Yeah, that and I'd like some good cooking. Kagome's leftover's are starting to make my stomach turn." Sango began to laugh at Inu-Yasha's comment with me while opening her car door to let us in.

"That'd be great. Thanks you two." I nodded before getting in the car and closing the door behind me. Inu-Yasha got in the other side, without a word, as we traveled the few blocks to the café that I missed sitting at with Sango more than anything.

XxXxXxX

Once we were all situated in a nice, cozy booth, the waitress left us our menus that Sango and I hardly had to look over at all to know what we wanted. Inu-Yasha, who was sitting next to me, seemed to stare at the menu for the longest time before putting it down in frustration.

"Don't they have any real food? For… a real dinner?" He complained.

"Inu-Yasha, this is a café, they don't serve heavy foods here." I said simply."Well, why didn't we go to a place that does?" Inu-Yasha crossed his arms.

"Because Sango wanted to come here." After I said this, Sango smiled from across the table and Inu-Yasha couldn't come up with another smart thing to say.

Besides the stream of complaints from Inu-Yasha, the ordering of our light food went off fairly easily as we waited for our waitress to return with our coffee. Sango and I were engaged in conversation while Inu-Yasha stared out the window blankly. After a few minutes, I began to envy him… Mine and Sango's conversation kept drifting back on Miroku and what was going on with him and, after all, this whole dinner was to get her mind off this.

"I just don't know what to do, Kagome." She said with a light sigh on my name. I merely tightened my frown as the waitress put our drinks down in front of us, offering a smile before walking away. Inu-Yasha stared at the cup in front of him before putting it to his lips rather than the reaction Sango and I had that was to dig in. Although he was drinking from his cup, his gaze remained out the window.

"Inu-Yasha, is something bothering you? Or is there just something outside that's really interesting that I'm just not seeing?" I asked him with a laugh. He shook his head and I saw his amber eyes reflecting to a booth behind us. My eyes went to Sango who was also staring with wide eyes as we both saw Koga sitting in a booth with a handsome man; almost too handsome to even be human…

His hair cascaded over his shoulders and most of his back to the booth and his golden eyes shone brightly against the reflection. Although his hair was bright silver, the man had no sign of old age, he must have only been in his twenties. He held almost no expression in his face as he spoke to Koga and seemed to eat his food with a certain elegance. I looked to Inu-Yasha once again then back to the man, they looked nearly identical… It was almost as if Inu-Yasha's image for a few years in the future was displayed in front of us.

"That's so weird, Inu-Yasha, you look just like that guy over there." Sango said pointing through the window. He seemed to be in a near trance looking at the man before snapping out of it, nodoubt finally processing her question to him.

"Yeah… I don't know why but he's really familiar." He admitted. We saw the man in the window say something to Koga before shaking his hand and getting up from the booth. He walked though the maze of other tables and waitresses and past our table, his long silver hair trailing as a veil behind him. My eyes were drawn to the side of his head as he passed, his pointed ears catching my attention.

"Was he a-?" I breathed.

"A demon? Yeah." Inu-Yasha answered me before I even had a chance to finish my question. "I could sense he was even when he was sitting over there." He said almost in a bragging one. Although he was his usual cocky self, Inu-Yasha looked dazed and almost pale. It was worrying me. Rather than saying the thoughts that plagued my mind, I shoved my sandwich to my mouth and bit into it. It was now Sango's turn to take our minds off things, however the conversation was light and made nearly no ground as it died off after the first few exchanges of words. We all found our eyes traveling back to the window to observe Koga who just sat looking over papers. After the longest time, he put money down on the table and stood up, making his way out of the café the same way the man before did. He stopped next to our table and smirked.

"See you all tomorrow, good to have all the laborers back." Koga looked towards Sango and Inu-Yasha with the rude comment which angered me a bit. I put more sandwich in my mouth and looked away as Koga walked out the front door. We all watched as his head lights faded from view outside as he turned down the street to return to his home.

"Remind me why I'm still working at that place, I keep forgetting…" Sango passed to me. I laughed lightly and turned to Inu-Yasha.

"I guess we all need a reminder about why we put up with that, huh?" The comment was meant to get Inu-Yasha into the conversation. I waited for a few moments for a response and received none. The only thing that was getting attention from Inu-Yasha was the window and more specifically the table where Koga resided. However, this time no one was there to be observed; merely the waitress who collected the money in her apron and walked to the back dish room with the two dirty plates stacked on top of each other.

XxXxXxX

I chewed on the back of my pencil, sighing periodically as I did so. My homework sat in front of me, not being anymore done than when I had sat down with it over and hour before. Inu-Yasha was looking at me while I was doing it, not helping the fact that I couldn't focus on the task at hand. The television that was usually blasting through the apartment could not be heard, only the nerve racking constant tick of the clock over head.

"Inu-Yasha, you're making me nervous." I hissed irritably.

"…Sorry…" He said with his attitude very prominent. Truth be told, ever since we had gotten home the short time earlier, Inu-Yasha had been, dare I say, downright _clingy_. Finally, after a few more minutes of silence and him staring, I put my pencil down.

"Is something wrong?" Here was a start of those conversations that would get no where fast… He'd say nothing was wrong, I'd freak out he wasn't trusting me… Yeah, this was familiar.

"Kagome?" Inu-Yasha's tone of voice intrigued me a bit, it seemed as if he was going to actually talk to me.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think I might have done before to land myself in jail?" …Leave it to him to the subject… "I mean, they were treating me like I was a murderer or something."

"I don't know, Inu-Yasha but I guess you didn't do anything considering they let you go. I must not have been you." I said simply. "Maybe you just looked like someone who committed the crime; it could have been anyone."

"Come on Kagome, you don't honestly believe that the cops would mix up me for anyone else, do you?"

"It's possible."

"My ass." Inu-Yasha sat forward in his chair and pointed to his ears. "Tell me one person you've seen that looks like me."

"Well," He set me up perfectly. "How about that man at the café?" I got stared at for a moment before anymore words were spoken.

"Yeah, but he's still walking the streets so he's obviously not accused of it." Inu-Yasha was trying to sound smart and I could tell he was trying too hard. I sighed and nodded with him, deciding it was best to just be on his side. He was talking to me and that was better than nothing.

"That's no way to look at it."

"What, should I have an 'everything's peachy' attitude or something?" He crossed his arms while slouching back into the chair.

"Well, no, but still." I could come up with no better words. With that, a knock caught my attention as I got up to answer it. Opening it, I had to keep myself from gasping. Miroku stood with a look of concern plastered on his face as I stared at him. "What're you doing here?!" That question seemed like the only logical thing to yell at him as he pulled me by the arm out the door and closed it behind me.

"Where's Sango?" Miroku asked rather sternly.

"She… Checked out of the hospital." I answered, not really understanding what was going on at the time.

"How could you let her do that!? She was safe there, Kagome!" He said lowering his head. Okay, once again I was confused,

"What are you talking about, Miroku!?" My tone came across as a demand.

"Kagome, I-" Miroku looked up, his violet eyes filled with regret. "…I can't tell you."

"Oh, so you're just going to sit here and let Sango wonder why you haven't talked to her in days? She thinks you hate her, Miroku."

"I'm trying to protect her! And in that hospital she was safe!" He insisted.

"I'm confused, safe from what?"

"From THEM." I was taken aback by how upset he was. "Look, you three saw Sesshomaru at the restaurant, didn't you?"

"Sesshomaru?" I shot him a strange look. "You mean the man with the long silver hair?" A groan escaped his throat as Miroku began to pace back and forth in the hallway.

"That's what I was afraid of. Kagome, I don't want you and Sango around there, please." Miroku sounded as if he was pleading with me. And without an explanation, I wasn't exactly going to do anything rash.

"No, I'm not going to do that until you tell me who this Sesshomaru person is and why it's so bad if I see him." I put my foot down and Miroku looked defeated.

"Kagome, by telling you I'm putting your life on the line… As well as mine." I stayed quiet. "…And sadly, Inu-Yasha's too." My stomach turned at the sound of his name being mentioned in that sentence and I felt my heart ache.

"What's going on?" My voice was quiet.

"Kagome… I know Inu-Yasha. He and I were best friends before all this… I know all about who he was before he lost his memory, I know how, I know why, I know absolutely everything."

"Y-you what?"

"I know everything someone would ever know about him."

"You're his best friend and you didn't tell me!? Or him!? He's in there wondering if anyone still cares about him or ever loved him and you didn't tell me?" My anger was rising as much as my voice. At that point, I wanted to strangle Miroku, how could he do that to me? To Sango? To Inu-Yasha?

"I couldn't, you're in danger already by knowing this!"

"Miroku, I can't believe you, get out of my face you bastard!" I screamed in a shrill before banging on the door for Inu-Yasha to let me in. Miroku panicked and grabbed my shoulders lightly, trying to get me away from the door. Before he could, Inu-Yasha opened the door and stared at me strangely as I was let go.

"Kagome, please don't say anything…" Miroku whispered before walking away. I watched him all the way to the side walk where the front door frame was blocking my view. Once I heard him drive off, I turned to Inu-Yasha who seemed very confused.

"Are you okay? I heard you screaming out here." He asked me. Looking at him, I wanted to ask him if he remembered Miroku, if he remembered them being best friends, if he remembered anything at all. But then I remembered what Miroku had said about being in danger and second guessed whether that would really be the best thing for him.

"I'm fine." I lied. "I just overreacted a bit is all."

"Oh. Geeze, you sounded like you two were going to fist fight in the hall." He said putting a hand to my back and leading me in the apartment. It was then that I realized that I now bore the same burden that Miroku had, whether to tell Inu-Yasha or not. I felt as if I held his whole past on my shoulders… The weight I felt from it felt like it was constricting me as my breaths got a little shaky. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked removing his hand and closing the door. I turned around to him in light tears.

"Inu-Yasha… I was just thinking about something." I covered myself."Yeah?"

"If say, someone close to you, knew your past… Would you want to know at any cost? Even your own life?" He seemed to ponder this for a minute which made me cry a bit more.

"I don't think I would."

"What? Why not?" My eyes opened wide, my tears stopping temporarily.

"Well, think about it, stupid. If I learned my past at the cost of my life what would be the point, it's not like I could use it for anything."

"But wouldn't it settle your mind a bit?"

"It wouldn't matter at that point, now would it?"

"No, I suppose it wouldn't." I looked away.

"Besides," Inu-Yasha got quieter while walking towards me. "I kinda like living here with you, even if I don't have an idea of who I am." My eyes teared up again as I looked up to him. He looked at me uncomfortably for a second before stepping forward another inch and pulling me into his chest with a little force. I felt myself freeze before melting into his grip and crying into him, griping his shirt and nodding.

"I…" I breathed in sharply to form my words in between tears. "I like you living here too." I don't specifically remember how long we stayed that way but it didn't end quickly. I can really only remember standing with him for the longest time, whispering "thank you" over and over again as the annoying ticks of the clock seemed to get lost in the moment.

XxXxXxX

**A/N: **_Whoo! Intense chapter! Sorry for the delay, I was switching over computers from my old computer to my wonderful new lap top and was without internet for a while. That and I lost like, half the chapter I had already written… But I re-did it! So, now that you have this installment, let me know how things are in the wonderful treats of reviews!_

'_Till Next Time!_

_A Friend In Words,_

_--KB_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **_Well, I got wonderful response to the last chapter! Many, many, many, favorites were added, I thank you deeply for that. Apparently I'm doing something right, but please guys, remember: Reviews are fun things! Hah, okay, enough babble, into the double digits we go!!_

**DISLAIMER: **_I've emailed Rumiko Takahashi-sensei to ask for rights to Inu-Yasha… And that was four years ago, I suppose it's not going to happen D:_

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 10**

After a few minutes, I was able to calm down to my senses and sat Inu-Yasha down next to me on the couch.

"So, Miroku did talk to you about something important. That night you went to jail, I mean." My eyes stayed glued to the same broken wood panel on the floor.

"Yeah, but he told me not to tell you because you'd be in danger." Inu-Yasha seemed to look at me intensely, almost as if he was trying to turn my gaze to him. "I didn't want anything to happen to you because I was an idiot and told you something you weren't supposed to know, so I didn't say anything." I felt my heart skip a beat at the explanation, finding it extremely sweet. I felt bad about how I assumed the worst of him when he didn't tell me before. I knew I should apologize.

"Inu-Yasha, I'm sorry. I didn't know that's why you didn't tell me." I said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He cringed under my contact a bit and said nothing for the longest time. "What's wrong?" He pulled his shoulder out from underneath my hand, and faced me with his shining golden eyes.

"Kagome, he told me about everything in my past life and if it's true I don't think that I can stay with you anymore."

"What?" I asked unsure of what he was saying.

"Miroku told me who Kikyo was." The tone that he had was making me worried. His voice lost all the toughness that I was used to and he was talking straight at me. This couldn't be good.

"…W-who is she?" I was looking into his eyes harder than I ever had. His gaze started to slip to the couch.

"She's…" He trailed off.

"She's what?"

"Never mind, she's just someone from my past is all."

"O-oh." I smiled at him uncomfortably while pushing my tears back. "Isn't that great Inu-Yasha? You have that to look forward to now. Maybe you'll find out who she is now that Miroku knows what's going on." My voice began to fail me as I swallowed again, doing everything in my power to not cry. I had a feeling as to why he didn't want to complete his thought and it caused my stomach to tie in knots.

"Yeah." He stood up and walked down the hallway only pausing slightly to look over his shoulder. "It's late… I'm heading off to bed."

"…Night." I whispered, unable to make anymore words form.

How strange, I thought the moment he left I would be in tears but somehow I just felt numb. I was thinking about the possibility that perhaps I was just thinking the worst. After all, Kikyo could just be his sister or something not necessarily his girlfriend. When that word passed through my head, my stomach lurched forward causing me to feel a little towards the queasy side. I was thinking too far into this and it was going to drive me insane if I kept it up…

Deciding that pressuring myself to cry was a rather stupid idea, I walked across the room, slipping my shoes and coat on and walking out the door. The chilly air bit into my cheeks in the stairwell as I ventured closer and closer to the front door of the building. Once I walked out, I heard nothing but the wind blowing down the hallow street, it being the only company I had as I walked down the sidewalk. I breathed in the night air that was usually polluted by car exhaust and cigarette smoke; its now crisp clean scent soothing my throat.

Before I had realized it, I had walked quite the distance from my building almost confused as to how I got there. Zoning out while walking along in the city at night wasn't the best idea but I couldn't help it. The darkness painted in the streets made me nervous, making my surroundings very unfamiliar until I turned a sharp left saw a certain car that made me stop.

'Miroku?' I thought to myself as I ducked behind a building and watched as he interacted with two taller dark figures. Listening in on his conversation wasn't a very nice thing to do but I had to find out if he was hiding anything else from me.

"She'd better not have any idea it was us." The shorter of the men said with a voice that I recognized.

"If she catches on, I will have your head indefinitely. You must remember that." The other said in a smooth sentence.

"I told her that she was just confused, if she catches on it's not my fault." Miroku said in a bit of an angry tone. "You're already asking me to lie to the girl while she's in the hospital, I'm not going to shatter her sanity."

"That's her fault for getting involved in the first place!" The shorter shadow stepped forward towards Miroku. He backed up causing the flickering street light to shine for a quick second on his face. Placing my hand over my mouth, I gasped slightly. Koga was standing in front of Miroku, his fist balled threateningly under Miroku's jaw.

"No, it's your fault! I know you're the one who called the police in the first place!" Miroku said rather loudly while throwing Koga back. I couldn't move… That's how Koga new about Inu-Yasha, he was the one who called the police!

"If he wasn't put in jail, then the idiot may have remembered us and reported it. If he was already in prison for the murder, they wouldn't believe anything that came out of him." The other said, keeping his position that was leaning against a sleek black car.

"Well, that's your fault for not finishing him off in the first place, isn't it, pretty boy?" Koga lashed out against the other man.

"You will do well to not speak to me like that. Remember that I have no qualms when it comes to my honor."

"What honor!? You said that you killed him and suddenly he shows up with his memory erased! What honor do you have?!" Koga screamed back at him.

"Shut up, do you want the whole neighborhood to hear this?" The man spat back.

"Maybe I want the whole neighborhood to hear you, Sesshomaru." After finding out that the taller man was Sesshomaru, the same man I had seen at the café earlier, I pulled my head back from the side of the building. My heart was pounding in my ears as I contemplated what to do. I couldn't come up with anything and stayed frozen in my tracks. I heard more footsteps before peeking around the corner once again.

"Both of you stop it." Miroku said plainly. The sound of a pair of shuffling feet continued.

"Not until he stops complaining about the situation. It's his fault that he didn't finish off his bastard brother." At this comment, Koga went too far apparently. Sesshomaru seemed to glide before I could blink to Koga and held him up by his throat.

"I told you to never refer to that cur as my brother. Alive or not the idiot is dead to me, don't ever let me hear you say brother with mine and Inu-Yasha's name in the same sentence ever. I'll make sure that you die if you do." Sesshomaru still held Koga as he clawed at his arms and gasped for air. He eventually threw Koga to the ground. I stuck my head out a bit more to see if Koga was hurt before I noticed Sesshomaru's gaze shift to where I was. My breath stuck in my throat and I froze, gripping the side of the building. "We're through here." He said, never taking his eyes away from mine. Koga and Miroku stared at him as he suddenly jumped into his car and started the engine. He turned around, his car coming in my direction as I quickly pretended as if I was walking away from where they were. The car zoomed past me as I breathed in relief, unsure of whether to go back and see more or just go home. After a moment of thought, I started going in the opposite direction to home.

It's sad, I went on this walk to clear my mind. Now I had even more to think about. So, that man is Inu-Yasha's brother and he wanted him dead… How awful… I started thinking about my younger brother and how close we were and how I could never even think about doing that to him. What on earth could Inu-Yasha possibly have done to Sesshomaru to deserve death?

XxXxXxX

I stayed home from class once again the following day. It was just far too much for me to handle, everything that was going on and classes? It's almost pathetic, I'm going to college for criminal justice and I'm getting more experience in the field outside of school than I am inside…

"Hey, what're you doing home?" A voice shook me out of the strong glance I had out the window. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Oh, good morning," I began. "And yeah, I should be at school but I just wasn't feeling up to going to my class. I have math today and it always gives me a headache. Tomorrow is my forensics class, it's more fun so I'll go tomorrow."

"Huh, I didn't think college worked that way." Inu-Yasha said stretching his arms over his head. "You sure you're just not cutting class?"

"Yes, I'm sure." I said with a sharp glare sent towards him. Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes before heading towards the kitchen. "Inu-Yasha, tell me something."

"Tell you what." He stated, obviously not wanting to tell me anything and remaining out of view behind the half wall of the kitchen.

"Did Miroku tell you about a man named Sesshomaru?" There was silence before he reappeared from behind the wall to stand a distance away.

"Sesshomaru?" He rolled off his tongue. It looked as if nothing clicked and much to my displeasure, he shook his head. "Never heard of him. Why, what is he to me?"

"I- I don't know." I stammered out in a lie.

"Then what're you asking me for?"

"I'm just seeing if he told you anything and if you know him in some way so you can find your family… Inu-Yasha, why are you getting hostile?"

"You're the one always complaining how you want me to stay here and then you're digging up my past so I can leave? Yeah, that logic makes sense."

"I'm doing this for you!"

"I'm sure, Kagome."

"What are you talking about? I'm doing this all for you! I want what's best for you, how're you turning it around to seem as if I'm betraying you?"

"Are you really doing this for me?" Inu-Yasha walked towards me until the coffee table was the only thing that separated us. "Because it seems to me that the only reason you're doing this is so you can get as much experience in your crappy field of work before getting on an actual case. You don't give two shits about what happens to me, you're just doing this for the experience." He nearly screamed at me.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" I screamed in a shrill while standing up and balling my hands at my sides. "Who on earth gave you that idea!?"

"Miroku. He told me everything, Kagome. You can't get away from it." He growled back. He flipped around to the bed room and began to get dressed. It seemed as if he wanted the conversation to end there, and for once I was not going to allow it.

"Hold on one second," I said, stomping into the room. "How can you be completely sure that Miroku isn't lying to you?"

"How can I be sure of what anyone says anymore? It looks to me like every time I turn around someone's lying to me!"

"Inu-Yasha, I'm not lying to you! If I didn't truly care about you then why would I ever waste my time? There really is no way that I can use you for 'practice.'"

"Yeah, okay. Whatever Kagome, you're forgiven. That's what you want to hear right? Well, there it is."

"That is definitely not what I want to hear!"

"Oh right, I know one thing you want to hear." Inu-Yasha had finished getting dressed and stared me down powerfully. "Kikyo, just so you know, is my girlfriend. Miroku told me that she and I have been together for two years. Okay? That's who she is." My heart stopped.

"Why do you think I'd care about that?" I spat with as much venom as I could muster. "Besides I'm just using you aren't I, why would I care if you have a girlfriend? It's not as if I could, I don't know, actually have feelings for you, right!?" He looked at me for a moment before pushing past me down the hallway to the front door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to work, what does it matter?" The door opened under his grip wildly. "I was wrong about you. I thought that through all this maybe I could find someone I trusted. Have fun ditching school, bitch. I can't wait until my real family finds me; that way I won't have to put up with this bull anymore." I ran for the door as it slammed in my face. I stood there silent for a moment, listening to the front door open and slam shut before I felt my fists clenching harder and my anger swelling. Slamming my feet hard enough to get splinters in the bottom of them, I went back into my bedroom and threw my body on the bed. Burying my head into my pillow I began screaming very loudly until my voice cracked and I was hoarse.

I got up slowly, still carrying my pillow in hand and walked out into the living room, the picture carousel catching my eye in the morning rays. I brought the pillow over head and onto the silver object that hit the floor, sending glass and metal shattering in all directions. Realizing what I had just done, I dropped the pillow and looked to the pieces, feeling my heart shattering in as many shards that were scattered on the floor. Slowly, my feet pulled me to the kitchen to where I grabbed the bottle of glue that sat on the counter before shuffling back over to the broken frames. A few pieces of glass bit into my bare feet as I picked up all the pieces and photos and placed them onto the coffee table. I sat there for hours piecing together the shattered remains of the carousel while swallowing the painful sobs that ripped at my already sore throat.

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _I know, very late. But musicals take up your life, I'm sorry. Well, to make up for it, I made this a pretty intense chapter, things are starting to come together. Perhaps now that the musical is over and if I get many reviews I'll feel more inspired to update sooner. :hint hint: Thank you all for being patient and let me know what you think!_

'_Till Next Time!_

_A Friend In Words,_

_--KB_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **_Hello all! Thank you all once again for the wonderful reviews and such for the last chapter of my fan fiction! Now see? I'm much more willing to update quickly, hah. (And with longer updates!) All your wonderful reviews made me smile and I'm glad that you all took the time to write them! Right now, I'm going to try and get the romance a-cooking, hah. And without further a due, chapter 11, one of my lucky numbers!_

_kagomesbutterflyfeeling: Hey girly, I hope your week's a little better. This one's for you. :)_

**DISCLAIMER: **_I do not now, nor will I EVER own Inu-Yasha… If I have come to accept this fact, unfortunately you all must as well._

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 11**

A knot tied its way very tightly into my stomach as I walked on my way to work that night. I hadn't even thought about speaking to Inu-Yasha since he had stormed out this morning let alone having to come face to face with him. I supposed that the only way to get past it would be to grin and bear it and if he brought anything up just apologize and get it over with.

Today, I managed to walk outside without a jacket on, a rare treat for this time of year and was trying to enjoy the newly coming spring air. Sadly, my mind kept reminding me it was one of those random warm days that would fall back to the icy clutches of winter sooner rather than later… However I was glad to know that warm weather would be on the way. A few children were playing in front of the apartment buildings as mothers met to talk about their husbands and complain of how little they got to enjoy the Osaka night life ever since the children became more mischievous. The banters created a calming soundtrack as I made my way down the oh-too-familiar path to work.

The sounds of their voices faded in the background as the store faded slowly into my view. Inside I could see Sango slumped over the counter. My smile grew as I reached the door, the bell on top of it nearly startling her into a jump as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Kagome, hey!" She said a bit too happily. Her face was pale and her eyes were red.

"I would say 'good evening' but it's more like 'good morning' for you," I said leaning my left arm on the counter top. "You look like you haven't slept for a few days."

"Yeah, I know. I had a late night last night. Miroku finally showed up to my house really late last night. He didn't give me details but he nearly begged me to let him stay the night, so like an idiot I let the pervert in."

"I see."

"Yeah, we talked things out and I guess you could say that things are back to the norm. He was so shaken when he came in last night but he wouldn't tell me why… That was the only thing that we didn't talk about."

'Well, I don't suppose he would be very open about telling you that he was involved with a sort of gang deal before he came there, now would he?' I thought to myself while merely shaking my head.

"I'm sure he was just missing you, Sango. And it's great that you two made up."

"Well, don't make it sound as if we're a married couple." Sango grumbled under her breath before walking past me as I tied my apron around my waist tightly. "But yeah, I'm glad he finally came back too."

"Oh, that reminds me, did Inu-Yasha swing by at all today?" I attempted to make the question sound as innocent and carefree as possible.

"Yeah, he's been sitting in the storage room ever since this morning. Kaede didn't know what to think and just let him be. She said he walked in muttering and didn't even look at her. He must be mad about something, what'd you do?" She said in a joke.

"I-I didn't do a thing!"

"Uh-huh." She traveled down an aisle of potato chips to the back supply room and kicked the door open slightly. A string of curse words flew out of the door as she shook her head. "Calm down, Kagome's here."

"That's just fuckin' dandy." I heard come out of the room which made me wince a little. Following Sango's footsteps, I found my way to the door and waved before looking in. Inu-Yasha's face was turned to the side and was not looking at us as he sat on a stack of crates.

"Well, would you mind terribly moving your butt so I can re-stock the shelves with what you're sitting on?" Sango said with an attitude, shifting her weight to the left as she passed the question. There was no response from the other party as Inu-Yasha stood up in one swift motion, kicking the box towards her with a grunt. "Thank you kind sir, your graciousness is unmatched by any human… Or well in your case… Whatever." She laughed a bit while walking over a few aisles to where her back was turned to me before setting the box down on the ground. I turned back to Inu-Yasha by walking into the store room and shutting the door behind me. He looked up with a scowl before his boots began to make a shuffling noise as he kicked his toes into the floor.

"How'd you cut yourself?" He muttered not looking at me.

"What?" That caught me off guard before I remembered I had cut my feet. "How did you…"

"I smelt the blood the second you walked into the store. What'd you do to yourself?"

"I broke something and got a few pieces of glass in my feet, it's no big deal, really."

"Clumsy," Inu-Yasha looked up at me with his brows still arched down. "What did you break?" I swallowed.

"It was nothing, just an old glass is all." I felt my cheeks flushing and clasped my hands behind my back. "I'm sorry." Inu-Yasha looked at me with a face of surprise. He took a step closer to me and uncrossed his arms.

"What the hell do you got to be sorry about?"

"I'm not quite sure, I just can't stand it when you're mad at me." I hid my eyes behind my hair. There was an extended pause.

"Keh, don't worry about it. I've been listening to Sango and all the stuff she's been saying about Miroku and I guess he really can't be trusted. I just… I don't know, it's hard to trust anyone here."

"I understand that."

"Yeah, so um, forget everything I said before." Was this his attempt at an apology? It sure did seem like it. I nodded with a smile as he reached up and played with the light string.

"Well, let's get to work." Grabbing his hand, we were dragged to the door as the light turned out. Opening the heavy concrete slab, Sango stood with a smug look on her face with the empty box in her hands.

"You two know Koga's policy on employee mingling." Sango pointed to our hands with a slender finger. Inu-Yasha yanked his hand back to himself before tucking it back into his pocket. I sent a glare towards her as she laughed and continued into the store room and turned the light back on, spilling more light on the tile floor.

XxXxXxX

"I say we all take off one day and go into town, I've heard the inner city is so fun this time of year." Sango exclaimed as we were getting ready for our shift to end.

"That'd be great except Koga took all my sick days away."

"Just say you passed out in the bathroom and woke up the next morning." Sango smiled.

"Knowing that idiot he'd want copies of the hospital bills." Inu-Yasha piped in.

"Maybe one day we'll go deeper into the city. I haven't been there since I moved; I miss it, especially all the food." As we continued on mopping the floors and washing the counter, the front door opening made us stop. We all figured that it was just Miroku coming in for work until a deep clearing of a throat made me lift my head.

My heart stopped and I'm pretty sure the color drained from my face.

"Would you know where Koga might be?" The man at the door asked. I mentally slapped myself.

"He's upstairs." I pointed.

"Thank you." He said simply before excusing himself up the stairs.

'Sesshomaru.' My mind was racing as Sango looked from him to me.

"You know, I never knew just how many demons were in this area until I met you, Inu-Yasha." She said in a sigh.

"Guess you should have listened to that old hag, Kaede." He shrugged. I kept my ears open, hearing the conversation upstairs getting loud. Sesshomaru remained upstairs far past when we finished our chores and Sango had her light pink jacket and was holding her car keys in her hand.

"You sure you don't want a ride home?"

"Yeah, thanks Sango. I'll see you in class tomorrow." Sango waved to both of us before heading out, her head lights shining brightly in the windows of the store. I tried to make more work for myself to wait for Sesshomaru to come down and it didn't take much longer before footsteps were heard on the stairwell. There was more than just one set of feet as Koga and Sesshomaru both came down.

"Kagome, we'd like to talk to you for a minute." Koga said plainly before pulling me by the arm outside, leaving Inu-Yasha's stares unanswered.

"What're you doing? I could have walked out here on my own!" I said to Koga while yanking my arm back. I saw Sesshomaru was following Koga still as a sharp pain in my cheek forced my face to the left. He had just slapped me.

"We know you were spying on us last night you little bitch." Koga spat at me while I held my burning cheek. My stomach flipped as I looked to both of them, unable to say anything. "And to think I thought you we actually worth a damn. You can't even keep your nose out of other people's business!" He brought a quick hand up to slap me across the other cheek, his demonic claws managing to scratch my face. I felt the warm liquid of spill over my cheek bone and down my chin, a small whimper escaping my lips.

"Don't knock her out, we still have to see if she knows anything about what transpired last night." Sesshomaru said, crossing his arms with some difficulty in his dress jacket.

"I-I didn't hear anything last night." I said unsure of whether I should run or not. Sesshomaru kept looking at the door, no doubt to make sure Inu-Yasha wasn't coming. "I was just walking past." Seeing Koga's eyes travel to Sesshomaru, I attempted to run to the side of him only to be pulled back by the arm and pushed up against the side of the building. The rough surface of the bricks scraped against the exposed arm out of my tee shirt as I hissed a bit and looked back at Koga.

"I doubt if you didn't hear anything that you would be running." Koga glared.

"It's plainly obvious that you don't understand what we're capable of, Miss." Sesshomaru said stepping forward. "Just tell us what you heard and we won't have to do away with you here. You'll be safe, you have my word." I looked at him and back to Koga, feeling a sting in the cut on my cheek as a tear spilt over.

"I know what you did to Sango." I figured I could still get away with something. "That's all I heard, I swear."

"Then she really is useless." The silver haired man backed back up.

"Well then there's no use of keeping her around!" Koga who was still in front of my punched me rather hard in the face, only managing to graze my nose. I felt my body drop from underneath me as I screamed out and suddenly felt as if I was going to black out. It took a moment as I sat dazed on the ground with my hand over my nose to realize I was bleeding and started to panic. Before I could move my body, I felt his hard boot toe kick into my side, barely missing my rib cage. He repeated the action before I heard a car door slamming and footsteps that sounded as if they were running.

"Kagome! Koga, stop it leave her alone!" Miroku's voice came to my ears in a shout as I remained on the ground not moving and crying into my palm. My sobs became gasps for air as I felt it harder to breathe. I must have been hyperventilating. Silently, I sat and listened to the struggle and the door to the store open. "Inu-Yasha! Take Kagome and get out of here!" Miroku pleaded. The only other thing I could place were more urgent footsteps and suddenly I felt weightless. Looking up, I saw Inu-Yasha's concerned face over me and realized he was running with me down a random street.

"We're going home the long way so they don't come after us." He explained as he slowed down and eased me into a wedding style carrying position. "As soon as we get home I'm locking all the doors and windows. Those assholes won't touch you ever again. I don't care what you say, you're not going back to work there."

"B-but-"

"Kagome, that bastard was trying to kill you! Why would you go back there?!" Inu-Yasha looked down at me.

"I'm sorry…" I hid my eyes from his gaze and let my head droop onto his chest. I suddenly felt like my body was useless, I couldn't even bring myself to cry anymore, it was so tired.

"Ugh, don't be sorry." He growled a bit as he looked over his shoulder. "I'm calling the cops."

"No!" I interjected.

"What do you mean 'no?' What the fuck is wrong with you, I told you that they wanted to kill you!"

"If you call the police then they will kill me!" Inu-Yasha glared at me deeply when I said this. "Please, just let it go…"

"I will NOT let it go, Kagome. What if something happens to you? Those idiots obviously have it out for me so they'll keep coming after you to get to me!"

"I'll be fine if you just forget about it!"

"Ignoring this will only make it worse! Damn it you're so stupid, Kagome!" Hearing his voice echo back to him, Inu-Yasha lowered his voice with a sigh. "Just do me one favor and don't go out alone anywhere."

"But scho-"

"One favor, Kagome." He stopped and looked down at me, honey gold that pooled warmly in my chest.

"…All right."

"Then I won't call the cops. But if they ever come after you again, I'll kill them personally." I merely nodded and snuggled my face into his chest and breathed heavily to calm myself down. My arms were caked in the dry blood from my nose and cheek while my arms stung with every slight movement. If I didn't need to be with Inu-Yasha so bad at that moment, I would have begged someone to take me to the hospital. The rest of the way home was nerve racking, I kept looking over Inu-Yasha's shoulder every chance that I had to make sure no one was following us while the approaching sounds of car engines created a knot the size of a tennis ball in my stomach. I never thought I'd live long enough to feel him bringing me up the stairs and gently laying me down on my bed in the apartment. "Now, wait here. I'm going to get some rags or something." He said low as if I actually had the strength to get up and walk out of the room.

Moments later he came back with towels from the bathroom that dripped water into little pools on the floor and began wetting his long sleeved plaid jacket that he had yet to take off. He placed the sopping towels on the night stand beside me and took a washcloth and put it on his hand, his finger poking up to clean my nose.

"This is probably gonna hurt a little." He said bluntly before gingerly wiping the blood that stained my lip and cheek with the towel covered finger. After wiping the main sight of the injuries, he went back to the bathroom and grabbed a bandage and some ointment for my cheek. He took the same finger and rubbed the cream on my face and placed the bandage under my eye, covering it from the world and returned to cleaning the dried blood from my neck and hairline. I cringed a bit as my fingertips lightly touched my nose in slight discomfort. Inu-Yasha placed his hand over mine and pulled it away from my face, shaking his head as he did so. "Don't touch it, you don't know if it's broken yet."

"But I need to see…"

"It looks fine," Inu-Yasha was up close and scanning my face. "It doesn't look misshapen, I think he just hit you hard enough to make you bleed."

"Can't say that's a relief." I sighed, my side giving off shocks of pain as I did so. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. Just when I found out about them having connections to you and I came across them talking I couldn't help but listen in… I was so upset about what happened with everything and just, well, I'm just sorry."

"I told you to stop apologizing before, didn't I?" He finished wiping away the last of the blood from my arm. "You shouldn't put yourself in such danger for me, no matter how great of a person you are you're still fragile." That was something I've never thought of myself as. No one had ever said that to me since... Well, since my father passed away. My Mother sat down and explained to me how fragile even my life was and it was a helpless feeling.

"I'm… Fragile?"

"Yes, Kagome, geeze," Inu-Yasha took the dirtied rags to the bathroom and came back quickly. "You're only human and you can't keep thinking that demons are people too. They can seriously hurt you which is why you need to not cross them."

"But I told you why I did it. You're telling me not to apologize then making me feel like I should keep doing it anyway." I said frustrated. He inhaled and calmed himself down.

"I just want you to be careful." He said sitting at the foot of the bed. "I'll protect you as long as I can from them but that means you have to watch what you do and say, okay?" I was taken aback from his words. He'd protect me? Wasn't I the one doing that for him?

"Inu-Yasha..." He looked up at me without a word. We both didn't know what to say. I began to sit up with a little difficulty, the pain coming and going as I did. Inu-Yasha traveled back to the bathroom as I heard the faucet turn on before he returned to me with two aspirins and a cup of water. I took the pills and nodded at him gratefully. "I don't want to be a burden."

"You're not. I just don't want to have to worry about you being okay or not. Apparently I'm accused of doing something horrible or else they wouldn't have thrown me in jail. I'm going to prove that I ain't a criminal and that I can take care of people. Maybe then if I go back to my old life I'll get to live it."

"If?"

"Who knows, maybe my old life sucks compared to this." He shrugged simply. We both looked at each other for the longest time before Inu-Yasha got up and walked to the empty side of the bed. He laid down, propping his head up by crossing his arms behind it and urged me to lay back down as well. I followed his suggestion and uncomfortably laid stiff as a board next to him. " It's strange, when those jerks were outside the store hurting you something kinda snapped in me and I felt like I had to stop this from happening to you again. I don't want to see you… Like this anymore. It makes me angry almost." He cleared his throat, no doubt feeling awkward. "I mean… It's because I don't like taking care of things…. Uh…Is there anything else you need?" I smiled at his flustered tone while some strands of his silver hair fell to cradle his face as his eyes fluttered half closed. I couldn't help but stop and admire him for that second before shaking myself out of the thought. We were laying in a bed together for goodness sake!

"No, but thank you for all you've done for me." I answered lightly. He smirked a bit a me which made my heart race; quickly pumping adrenaline through me. A momentary impulse went through my body as I moved a bit closer to him and kissed his cheek. "I don't think I could ever tell you how much what you said means to me." Inu-Yasha seemed as if he was going to simply let me return to my side of the bed; however he lowered his head to where mine was positioned on the pillow and kissed me on the lips for a quick second. My head was fuzzy and I didn't fully understand what he was doing until he pulled back from me and looked at me with innocent eyes.

"…Is something wrong?" He asked almost confused.

"N-no… I just-" He cut me off by putting his finger to my lips.

"Then shut up, stupid." With even more of a smirk, Inu-Yasha gently pulled my head up to his where our lips met in a more passionate kiss. I closed my eyes and followed his lead of his mouth dancing over my own and attempted to recreate the patterns that he chose. After a few moments more, we broke apart silently and I allowed my forehead to rest on his.

"Inu-Yasha, are you sure this okay? I mean what about Kikyo? She might be your girlfriend after all… And if so, I mean…"

"You really do worry about everything, don't you?"

"But this won't be right!" I protested pushing myself away from him. Inu-Yasha shook his head and sat back up.

"Well, fine. You sit in here thinking about stuff that you probably don't have to. My memory is gone, Kagome and everything went along with it. I'd like to get on with life here instead of having the whole 'oh-woe-is-me' crap going on for the rest of my days." He stood up from the bed a shuffled to the door tiredly.

"Where are you going?"

"I'll take the couch tonight. You just stay there and think. Let me know if you come to any conclusions." Inu-Yasha walked out of the door almost angry and I sighed, drawing my knees up to my chest in pain. I had already messed it up hadn't I? After all the months of waiting for something like this happen and I just messed it up…

Something in that moment came over me, something that to this very day I can't say what it was. I felt as if the feeling that Inu-Yasha had described to me mere moments before was being played out right in front of me…

'If Kikyo was his girlfriend who loved him, why isn't she out there looking for him? Asking for him? Putting up flyers? If that's the case, why do I feel bad? Inu-Yasha wants to continue his life, and I won't be in the way of that.' After looking at the door, I slowly kicked my legs over the bed and tried my best to lower myself onto the floor. The pain wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; the aspirin must have taken the edge of it. Crossing to the dresser, I took out a long night gown and stripped off the blood stained clothing onto the floor. Slipping it over my head, I cringed a bit but straightened myself out and walked to my bedroom door to open it. Once I did, I heard the sounds of the television and saw the faint blue glow that surrounded the half-demon on the couch in a heavenly aura. He looked to me confused as I took in a breath.

"I've come to a decision about this."

"And…?" Without saying another word, I sat on the couch with him and rested my head on his shoulder while looking up at him. He looked back with a sort of smile before reaching over to the remote to hit the power button on the top of it. Once the room was black and soundless, the call of rustling fabric came to ear as Inu-Yasha's lips once again lowered to meet mine.

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _SWEET! I finally got some things cooking in there this chapter! This would have been up even sooner if I hadn't been gone for a week on a trip… But here it is. Please review guys, reviews keep my heart beating and I don't think you want to be responsible for the imaginary heart monitor that I as an author am on! :Points to happy heart on screen with review and sad heart without: Hah, thank you guys for reading._

'_Till Next Time!_

_A Friend In Words,_

_--KB_


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:**_ Well, I see that we're all fans of romance here, hah. Hello everyone and thank you for returning to reading with all your wonderful alerts, favorites and most importantly REVIEWS! I was so happy to see my inbox filled with positive feedback which makes me even sadder that this story is coming to a close soon. But thank you all for your wonderful support, it makes me very thankful to have such devoted readers. :)_

**DISCLAIMER: **_Really? Must you break my spirit at the beginning of EVERY CHAPTER!? Fine, Inu-Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, not me._

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 12**

A gentle breath ruffled my bangs from my forehead as my eyes opened easily and scanned the room. It was a dreary day out, periodically rain drops would tap against the windows in a sad strum that threatened to lull me back to sleep. In attempts to not carry that out, my head shifted against the surface that I had used for a pillow the night before which had been none other than Inu-Yasha's chest. We were both laying long-ways on the couch, with me in the crook of his arm closest to the back of the couch. I decided that it was time for me to get ready for school (although why I ever thought I could make it to school that morning I will never know…) and sat up slowly to not wake the slumbering half-demon beneath me. His arm that wrapped around my shoulders had to be gently picked up and dropped back to his side, luckily gaining no response out of him. I managed to touch my toes to the wooden floor beside the couch and tried to stand on my own, my ribs screaming out in objection as I grabbed them and hissed in pain. Inu-Yasha's ear twitched towards me before his warm honey eyes overflowed into my sight, causing me to freeze.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"To school. I skipped yesterday I can't afford to do that again." Almost instantaneously, Inu-Yasha sat up with his legs off the couch and tugged me lightly back next to him.

"You don't really think you can go there like this do you?" His clawed finger poked the bandage under my eye lightly as the events of the night before became clear once again in my mind.

"O-Oh, right. But I should be fine now!" I peeled the bandage off my cheek and felt the long lean scab that lined my face.

"The hell you are, remember our little agreement last night? Besides, people are going to think I abuse you, and by people I mean Sango." Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes. "And as long as those nut cases are out there, you're not going anywhere without me." He really was treating me like a child! And of all things in the world, that made me angry.

"I can handle myself, Inu-Yasha." I said in a rather huffy tone. The side of his mouth flicked upward in a smirk and it made my cheeks a little hotter. "I'm serious!" He snorted a bit to my response before getting up off the couch and traveling to the kitchen where he grabbed a glass from the cabinet and turned the faucet on. After the only thing coming from Inu-Yasha were slight snickers I sighed again. "Fine, I won't go to school yet again. You happy?" He traveled back to the couch with his glass of water, sipping it casually.

"Mhm."

"So I can't go to school or work now? What am I supposed to do?" He shrugged slightly before placing the cup on the coffee table and laying back down on the couch, placing his legs behind me.

"Could go back to sleep…" Inu-Yasha said placing his arms behind his head. I shook my head and he sat up and looked at me then away. I thought that it would be extremely awkward between us after what had occurred the night before but somehow things seemed almost right to me. It almost felt as if we were a married couple. The thought made me blush and turn my face away to the end table where the newly reconstructed picture carousel sat wishing for some light to make it glitter to its full potential.

"I think I'm going to at least get dressed." I said looking down at the clothes I fell asleep in. I was still in my t-shirt and jeans that I had worn to work, a few places were still stained with blood. Getting up without another word, I traveled to my room that was still in disarray from the previous night and grabbed a pair of sweat pants and another shirt from the bottom drawer of my dresser. Traveling to the bathroom, I plugged the drain in the sink and filled it with hot water. I then looked up to the mirror, seeing myself for the first time after the incident. My eyes were dark, no doubt from being hit so hard in the nose, and the cut on my cheek made me look like I had lost a fight. I looked away to pull my shirt over my head, my sides were a sickening mash up of purple, blue, and yellow which made me look small and… Fragile. I groaned at the conversation of the night before while placing my shirt in the warm water to hopefully soak away the blood stains from the mint green fabric. I slid my jeans off as well, throwing them on top of my shirt and quickly slid my newer clothes over my underwear before grabbing a brush to straighten out my hair. Although I was normally right handed, it hurt far too much to lift my arm on that side so I was reduced to short uneven strokes with my left hand. I really did look pathetic. After putting on some fresh deodorant and perfume, I walked out of the bathroom to find Inu-Yasha in the same position I had left him in. He cracked an eye open before looking me over.

"Well, at least you look a bit better without the blood stained shirt. Let me see your sides."

"What?" I asked bashfully while tugging my shirt down.

"I need to see it in case there's something wrong, stupid." He growled. Eventually I gave in and pulled my shirt up to the underwire of my bra exposing my skin to him. He got up and walked over and placed a hand on the curve of my waist and stroked both sides lightly. I tried not to have a panic attack while he did so and was almost relieved when he removed his hand. "You're lucky. Nothing's broken which is amazing considering you have absolutely nothing to you but skin and bones." I merely nodded before sitting back down. No sooner had I done so, there was a loud pounding at the door that caused my heart to jump into my throat and panic set in. What if they had found where I live and were coming to get me? Inu-Yasha walked over to the door and opened it slowly. No sooner had he done this, Sango came storming in. She nearly plowed over Inu-Yasha over and stared at my state for a second.

"Oh Kagome… Miroku didn't say you'd been hurt this bad."

"M-Miroku told you?" I asked surprised.

"Of course he did! He came right back to my place after he broke up the fight between Koga and Sesshomaru! He said if he didn't get out of there he would have killed one of them!" Sango said in a state of almost hysteria. "When you didn't show up for class this morning I freaked out and had to make sure you were alright. Did you call the cops?"

"I…"

"I've got it taken care of," Inu-Yasha said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Good. At least we can trust someone in this world, my gods I never thought something like this would happen…"

"I'm a little surprised myself." I said with a light sense of humor. No one in the room picked up on it and merely continued with their glances around the room. Inu-Yasha stood with his arms crossed as Sango made herself comfortable on the couch next to me. I watched her eyes zone onto the blood that spattered his shirt and tried to beat Sango to saying something. "Inu-Yasha, I have my clothes soaking in the sink if you want to throw yours in there too. Try and get the stains out." He looked at me, shrugged, the turned around to follow the suggestion. When the door shut, Sango turned back to me in a serious manner that startled me.

"Miroku needs to talk to you and Inu-Yasha. He seems really concerned and I needed to get over here as soon as I could. Inu-Yasha's in serious danger right now."

"Well, I figured as much. He was thrown in jail for days."

"No, Kagome. I don't think you understand just what's going on here." Sango positioned herself to face me and took my hands in hers.

"W-what do you mean?" After a moment of searching the back of the couch for answers, she looked back at me with narrowed eyes.

"Kagome, tell me… What do you know about gangs?"

XxXxXxX

The four of us sat silent in Sango's dining room. The table was pushed to the side with her chairs in a tight little square. I sat uncomfortably playing with the strings on my sweat pants, Sango stared out the window and let out a periodical sigh, Miroku sat hunched forward towards the middle of the circle with his hands clasped in between his legs while Inu-Yasha sat, bored, with his arms crossed and left leg over his right. Everyone's body language told their inner-most emotions as we all waited for someone to talk.

"Kagome, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'd just like to know what's going on, Miroku." At the sound of my tone, Miroku raised a hand to the back of his head where he played with the small rubber band that held his hair back. After a moment he released it, allowing his unruly hair to glide down his jaw line.

"I suppose now is as best a time as any. After all, this is going to escalate more and more, something has to be done." Miroku said. Everyone got comfortable as Miroku turned to Inu-Yasha. "I'm sorry that you have to find out like this." Inu-Yasha cocked an eye brow at him as Miroku looked back at the rest of us.

"Inu-Yasha and I, well, the old Inu-Yasha and I had been the best of friends for many many years; despite the fact that he was a half-demon and came from a family of demons. I was always over at his place and we were always hanging out together. I came to learn that he was in the care of his older brother because of the tragic passing of Inu-Yasha's mother and his brother's step mother. Their father had passed some years before, leaving them in the care of Inu-Yasha's mother. His brother was of age to take care of Inu-Yasha so they lived in a house just across town from here and lead pretty normal lives… At least I thought so until a few months ago.

"As I mentioned before, Inu-Yasha also came from a family of demons and something that very few people know is that there is a complete… Underground community, if you will, of these demons all throughout the country. However, over the years it had gotten more and more noticeable as demons from around the world flocked here for companionship. There began to be problems." Miroku slid down in his chair a bit. I bit my nails as Inu-Yasha stared in disbelief at Miroku, Sango still refused eye contact.

"What kind of problems?" I asked.

"Well, much like most of the demons, Inu-Yasha's brother was a part of this gang that had risen up in Japan and perhaps more disturbing was the fact that his father had been the leader of this group. Once their father passed away, leadership was passed on to his brother considering that Inu-Yasha was half-human because of his mother. His brother is a full demon because his father was in a marriage that didn't work out with another demon. But I digress, this group gained great power over the years and was being threatened by other groups… Now he wouldn't take that. Sesshomaru wouldn't have his title as daiyokai or "The Great Demon Lord" be taken from him or threatened."

"That bastard is my brother!? You fucking lied to me in that jail cell!?" Inu-Yasha's feet slammed down onto the floor making the room shake.

"I had to, I couldn't tell you the truth, you weren't ready." Miroku justified calmly.

"You have a lot of fucking nerve. Now look where not telling me got everyone! You asshole, Kagome being hurt is on your shoulders!" Inu-Yasha screamed at him. I looked at him with a knot in the pit of my stomach but watched as Miroku continued.

"Please allow me to finish this. It was a mere few days after Inu-Yasha's 23rd birthday and him and his girlfriend, Kikyo, had had another fight and decided to split up for a while. I went to his house for him to basically use me as an emotional punching bag but never got to talk to him. When I got to the house Sesshomaru was sitting in the living room with Inu-Yasha talking to him sternly.

"'Humans cause nothing but trouble, little brother. You'd be wise to just join our group and forget about them.' Sesshomaru said to him.

"'Why would I ever join a group that just exists to kill innocent people? You're full of more shit than I thought if you thought I'd do that. Don't even refer to me as your little brother.' Was Inu-Yasha's response."

"Well, that's good at least." Sango finally said.

"Not quite…" Miroku's tone took a darker turn. "Inu-Yasha, Sesshomaru, and I went out that night because Sesshomaru had to meet a few of the other members. We met in a park with a few other shady characters, I know one of them was Koga and the others I don't know. Well, eventually things got completely out of hand and a passing man got tangled up in a fight between Sesshomaru and the other men. Someone pulled out a gun and shot the man and we all fled, including Inu-Yasha and I."

"How terrible…" I said. Miroku nodded.

"This is where things start getting twisted." He announced. Inu-Yasha had settled down and was listening again. "Inu-Yasha was furious with Sesshomaru, I've never seen him so angry. I remember him yelling at Sesshomaru as we ran…

"'You fucking idiot! Do you have any idea what you just did!? You just killed a human for no reason!'

"'Shut your mouth, half-breed, until you know your facts. He was a part of a gang that was aiming to finish us off, he had it coming.'

"'You're going to jail you idiot!'

"'They'll never find out.'

"'Yes they will, because I'm calling the god damned cops.' Inu-Yasha said before running down an ally leaving the group. I remember running with him for what seemed like hours before ending up back at my house. I asked him what on earth he was doing and he told me to just go home. I did as he said and walked in my front door, making sure all the doors and windows were locked."

"…Then one of those bastards tried to frame me for murdering that guy and had me thrown in jail." Inu-Yasha growled.

"You're jumping ahead but yes." Miroku nodded. "I remember it being a really foggy day and not expecting anything to be wrong when I opened the door, but Sesshomaru was there and flashed a gun at me.

"'You'll do well to keep quiet and follow us.' He said lowly and referred to the group of demons behind him. Koga was there along with a man with long, wavy black hair that went all the way down his back. He stepped forward and shoved Sesshomaru out of the way.

"'I'll handle this.' The man with the wavy hair said.

"'I think not.' Sesshomaru said.

"'You will or I'll go to the cops right now.'

"'Naraku, you're such a bastard.' Koga said to him. And then I was dragged across town."

We all couldn't find the words to describe our shock.

"When I got to the place Naraku was taking me, I saw Inu-Yasha tied up in an ally with a gag on his mouth. I panicked as the group began to violently kick and punch him and Naraku pushed me forward.

"'Get his wallet or I'll kill you right here.' I did as ordered while Inu-Yasha watched me confused. I shook as I took his wallet and brought it to Naraku. 'Take everything out of it, leave nothing and scratch out every bit of information you can find.' I did as ordered while Inu-Yasha was knocked out in the ally way and didn't move for a while. Sesshomaru delivered one more kick to the head before we heard sirens in the distance. I didn't have time to scratch off the rest of his name from his license and just dropped it back in his wallet and threw the wallet at him before we ran from him. Naraku continued to hold the gun to me while saying 'You're going to join this gang, you can't be trusted with everything you've seen to be on the outside. You will live with us, if not, your life is mine.' And I ran, crying the whole way."

"…No wonder when I woke up I was in so much pain. You bastards tried to kill me." Inu-Yasha said low and in a hiss.

"Inu-Yasha I had no choice-!"

"You had plenty of fucking choice! You took my life away! You took away everything from me and didn't stop it!" Inu-Yasha got up and looked like he was going to punch Miroku which caused both me and Sango to sit up as well. Although we expected the worst, Inu-Yasha merely stood above him, clenching his fists at his sides as Miroku held his hand in front of his face.

"I apologize… But there really was nothing I could do."

"If we were best friends, I'm glad you left me there. You're the poorest excuse for a friend ever. Kagome, let's go." He completely turned and walked to the door.

"Wait, Inu-"

"I said, let's go." Putting dark emphasis on the end of the sentence I quickly followed him out the door and on to the side walk. We had quite a ways to walk and quite a lot to talk about.

XxXxXxX

The most I could get out of Inu-Yasha was a few grunts on the way home and as soon as we stepped foot in the door, he stomped off to the room and slammed the door shut. Unsure of what to do, I stood there frozen. My thoughts were swimming almost painfully fast and it was nearly impossible to grasp onto any one train of thought. After a minute, I walked to the door and knocked lightly, hearing no response. I then let myself in cautiously, unsure of how he would react.

"Inu-Yasha, are you okay?"

"Yes." He said bluntly with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes were closed to the world as he let his head rest against the wooden head board behind him. I shook my head and sat on the edge of the bed, the motion causing his eyes to wrench open. He looked at me with slight anger. "I just said I was okay."

"You don't expect me to believe that do you? I've known you for long enough to know when you're upset." I replied calmly. Inu-Yasha looked as if he was going to protest more but let his arms fall to his sides as he exhaled deeply. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I don't even know what to talk about, I'm so confused. I feel like my damn head is going to fall off." He brought his thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose.

"Well, I can see why. It was a lot to take in."

"Even with all that information, why do I not remember any of this? Shouldn't I remember it?"

"Not right away, it's possible that you're still under the effects of the amnesia." Once I said this, his shoulders slumped forward even more. I placed a reassuring hand on his leg and smiled. "Just give it time to sink in, it'll all be okay." Inu-Yasha's eyes snapped up to mine and in one smooth movement he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I squeaked a bit as I was now mere inches from his face, my body thrown on top of his.

"I don't want it to sink in. I want all that to go away, I don't need it. You heard the way my life was." After his statement, I relaxed a bit, my forehead coming in contact with his.

"That's a serious decision, don't make it based on your feelings without your memory. It might have been better in other parts." When I said this, his eyes closed again and I attempted to get onto the floor, only to find that Inu-Yasha held onto my arms. I had looked away for a second to my arms then back to him to be in contact with his lips. His grip on my arms had lessened considerably as he wrapped his arms around my middle bringing me closer to him yet. This kiss was slightly different than before, it had more, urgency. My mind became swept up in the event and I forgot what my body was doing as Inu-Yasha held me close still while rolling over to be on top of me. Once the task was done, he broke away from my lips to trail kisses down my jaw line and onto my neck, my heart slamming in my ears with every move he made. He stopped for a moment and looked at me with half-lidded eyes.

"I want to forget." He said simply before returning to kissing my neck. I closed my eyes in turn and allowed him to do as he pleased. "I don't want to remember all that."

"…I don't want you to remember either." I admitted while plunging my hands into his silver locks to pull him back for another kiss. He gladly accepted it while his hands roamed from my middle to run up my sides. It was only mere seconds after that a loud bang startled the both of us into looking out into the living room. There were a few more bangs as Inu-Yasha let me out from underneath him in order to allow me to answer the door. I straightened my hair and trained to regain my senses (as well as my breath) and walked to the door where I opened it.

"Yes?" I asked politely. A young woman with long black hair, similar to mine, stood in the doorway.

"Are you Kagome Higurashi?" She asked in a rather chillingly smooth voice.

"Yes I am." I opened the door completely.

"I believe you may be able to help me in that case. My name is Kikyo… May I ask you a few questions?"

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _I think this is probably the most important chapter yet… Everything is revealed along with the fact that Inu-Yasha is trying to drown himself in Kagome to forget about the past. Isn't that great? Sorry for the cliffhanger, but SCHOOL IS OVERRR which means hooray for summer! Summer means updates! Be happy! Please review, more romance and drama is still to come even if the story is wrapping up!_

'_Till Next Time!_

_A Friend In Words,_

_--KB_


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **_So, things really started wrapping up last chapter. As you know, I said that this is coming to an end soon… That's so sad, I hate ending stories :sniffle: Thank you all for your support, I'll keep working hard!!_

_And did anyone else hear that the Inu-Yasha anime is continuing!? Isn't that fantastic??_

**DISCLAIMER: **_Yadda yadda, I don't own Inu-Yasha. Rumiko Takahashi does._

**Remembering What Was Never There**

**Chapter 13**

Holding onto the door for much needed support, I glanced over the woman in front of me. She looked at me with a strange glance before I shook out of shock.

"Sorry, please come in." I said watching her walk into my apartment as Inu-Yasha walked out of the bedroom. Watching as both their eyes interlocked I held back the urge to throw up.

"Inu-Yasha… It's really you. You're okay!" The one I knew as Kikyo said throwing her arms around his middle. Inu-Yasha kept his arms off of her and looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"U-uh…" She looked up.

"You really do have amnesia, don't you?" She asked with a sigh while removing her arms. "I'm Kikyo, your girlfriend, don't you remember me at all?" He pondered the statement for a moment before rubbing his temple. I thought back to the story that Miroku had told us and I secretly prayed that he remembered her in the fight, as selfish as that seemed.

"Yeah I remember you, you're the first person I had thoughts of for some reason. I'd always think of you when I saw Kagome." Inu-Yasha said looking at me. My heart sank. That's all he saw when he saw me? I mean sure, her hair was the same length and color and her eyes were similar to mine along with our facial structure… But that's all I was? "And Miroku said we were in a fight a few days before I went missing, it must have been bad enough that you didn't come looking for me."

"Inu-Yasha, I would have never not come looking for you. Remember I left to stay with my sister after that? When I got back into town a few nights ago I found out."

"But you left for your sister's after the fight, and said you'd call my cell phone, didn't you even worry that I wasn't picking up?" Inu-Yasha said with glazed eyes.

"You remember that?"

"Yeah… I do… Along with the fact that your sister lived in the town next to you. Her name is Kaede right?"

"Yes! You're remembering!" Kikyo smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. I, on the other hand, turned my back on the situation, literally. I felt like screaming. After all these months of trying to reunite Inu-Yasha and his past with nothing but failure; this woman comes into his life and like the missing piece of the puzzle, creates the perfect picture. I don't get it, how is it possible?

"Yeah I'm also remembering why we had that fight. Naraku." Inu-Yasha hissed at her.

"You can't believe what he's saying, you know he's always been after me, Inu-Yasha! Besides it doesn't matter now."

"It does so matter. That's why you didn't bother to look for me. You were still angry about me accusing you with what that bastard said."

"I would never cheat on yo-"

"Kikyo that doesn't matter. What matters is you left me, you basically dropped me after one stupid fight when I really needed you!" Inu-Yasha shook his head getting angrier.

"I'm sorry but I thought you were just mad at me and not picking up! Where's your phone now?"

"I don't know! Sorry for not keeping track of my phone while Naraku was trying to beat me to death in an alley way!" Kikyo put a hand to her mouth.

"That's what happened?"

"Yes. Miroku told me about our fight but that wasn't even the last fight we had. He only told me about the one right after my birthday, he didn't even know that that fight was the one that broke us up for good; I'm starting to remember a lot." I turned to meet Inu-Yasha whose gaze was on me. "Kikyo, leave."

"Not without you. I came to take you home, even your brother's looking for you!" Kikyo protested.

"So he can finish the job!" Inu-Yasha yelled back. Kikyo looked down and sighed again pulling out a piece of paper.

"Well, just think about your options. If you decide to come back, this is my address." She said handing him the folded piece of paper before walking in my direction. "I apologize for my actions. I will be leaving now. Thank you very much." She said bowing as if the entire scene had never happened. I shut the door quietly and turned back to Inu-Yasha, my heart slamming. He looked at me, then the paper and shook his head.

"I'm not going back to her…" He said quietly.

"You can't… Just not. Inu-Yasha, she's your girlfriend." I pushed myself to say.

"Kagome, I remember why we fought. Naraku had not only taken over the "family business" but he tried to take over Kikyo too. I can't tell you how many times I almost got into a scrap with him for not leaving her alone. The day he tried to get rid of me was the same day that I found him and Kikyo alone together just a few days after our break up. I went to her house, fought with her, then stormed out to my house where I called Miroku. I remember telling her that we were over because of it all the while she insisted she was just letting him down. I guess they knew I had called Miroku because they tied me up and got Miroku…"

"I understand that." I said quietly. "But are you really going to leave her?"

"Do you want me to stay with her? I thought you wanted me here."

"I do, Inu-Yasha, but if I were her I know I'd want you to come home!"

"Then I'll leave Kagome. I'll go home to the woman who stabbed me in the back and didn't even come looking for me. I'll go pack my shit. Thanks, it's been real." Inu-Yasha growled lowly at me growing closer to my face with each word before flipping around to the bedroom. I watched as he grabbed his clothing from each drawer and threw it onto the bed with absolutely no concern for anything. After a few moments, I traveled to the room and began folding the clothes that he had simply tossed aside and pulled a suitcase out from the closet. My Ouija board slid out to my toes as I grimaced and merely kicked the box back into the space before shutting the door behind it. By the time I slung the bag onto the bed, Inu-Yasha had finished destroying the contents of my dresser and sat on the bed next to the pile of clean shirts. The sound of the zipper made his ear tweak in my general direction but that was all.

"I don't think it will all fit in here… I can help move your things if you'd like." I gained no response from the peace offering other than a simple nod and after a few minutes he was packed and ready to leave. I grabbed a lighter jacket and put it on my shoulders before walking out with the rolling suitcase and set it up right to grab the rest of his things. It was a short stack of clothing with his shower supplies on top. He looked at me before grabbing the handle to pull the heavy suit case and opened the door, letting me out before himself. I heard him close the door as he reached into my pocket for the keys to lock the door from the outside before putting them back and walking with me down the stairs and out the door to the air outside.

It was quite dark out, the clouds covered the sky in grey dimness that made it difficult to determine whether it was afternoon or closer to evening. The position that my arms were held in made my ribs hurt on the one side, but other than that my injuries seemed to be healing fine. I truly could not believe that Inu-Yasha had run with me down these streets such a short time before and now everything was changing. I was going back to my old life, to my old routine with school, my old routine with work. But it really wouldn't be my old life, would it? When I went to school, I wouldn't sit anxiously, waiting to be dismissed so I could go home and get ready for work with Inu-Yasha. At work I wouldn't be able to have fun and laugh and flirt with anyone, I'd have to mind my job and give 110 percent. But most importantly, in my old life I didn't have someone who I couldn't picture living without. I didn't have someone that I wanted to always be with to smile and talk to about my day and shake my head when I told him things that bothered me. I didn't have Inu-Yasha, and that would be the only thing that would remain the same as it did before. My memories would haunt me daily of what should be there. And most upsetting would be my heart reminding me of what should be there. I was giving up the man I had grown to love to another woman now, and it was almost more than I could stand.

"Inu-Yasha, I don't want you to feel like I'm chasing you out…" I said finally after getting extremely uncomfortable in the silence.

"I don't feel that way at all." Inu-Yasha said with obvious sarcasm.

"I just think that you'd be happier with Kikyo."

"Oh, I was completely unaware that you were able to read my mind of all thoughts and feelings, forgive me then for putting up such a fight. You really know best, Kagome." He said pushing ahead of me.

"Now wait a minute! Why are you acting like this, I would have thought you'd be happy to know that your girlfriend wants you back!" I said a bit irritated. Inu-Yasha suddenly stopped in front of me as I crashed into his back lightly. "Now what?!"

"Kagome, get away from here."

"What are you talking about?" I asked impatiently standing on tip-toe to look over his shoulder. A man in a nice outfit stood in the middle of the side walk, long jet black hair that was wavy at the tips fluttered idly in the wind as he stared at Inu-Yasha with a smirk. His red eyes scared me a bit before he started walking towards us both.

"Naraku…" Inu-Yasha hissed.

"Well, Inu-Yasha, as I live and breathe," He stated his smile never fading once. "I guess it is true what they say: If you want something done right you really do have to do it yourself." Horror set into my stomach as Inu-Yasha turned around and grabbed me by the shoulder, pulling me to run with him. I looked back for only a second, seeing him pull something out of his jacket and begin chasing us.

"Kagome keep running even if I stop, you got it?" Inu-Yasha said to me more seriously than I had ever seen him.

"But what about you?" I said huffing for breath.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be more likely to survive than you. I don't think you've forgotten that I'm still a half-demon."

"Well of course not but still…" He didn't say anything else as he pushed me down every twist and turn he could find in the allies of the neighborhood while Naraku was still close behind us. He started to catch up when I became too tired to run as fast as I had been and almost desperately, Inu-Yasha seemed to make a wrong turn, running the both of us into a dead end alley. I sunk to my knees at the sight of the wall in front of us as Naraku walked casually in, gun pointed at Inu-Yasha. "N-no…" I whispered. Inu-Yasha stepped in front of me, covering me from Naraku, no doubt.

"Inu-Yasha, you were lucky last time, you really were. But this time I have the entire group out, watching."

"I don't care if you have the whole country out, bastard." Naraku frowned at this.

"You may not like me, but that doesn't change the fact that you should have respect for me!" He yelled running up to Inu-Yasha and slamming the gun hard into his jaw. Inu-Yasha stood for a second before spitting on the ground, the liquid being dark red in color. Reaching up to wipe his mouth, Inu-Yasha shook his head.

"I'd hardly show you anything, let alone respect." I watched Naraku hit Inu-Yasha again, this time in the cheek bone, hard enough to knock him off his feet. He slammed into the wall beside me as I watched in horror as Naraku raised the gun to him with his finger on the trigger.

"Inu-Yasha!" I screamed before leaping on top of him. Naraku cocked an eye brow as I hugged his shoulders to me and glared at Naraku over my left shoulder. "D-don't touch him." I said lowly.

"Kagome…" Inu-Yasha watched my actions shocked.

"You've already found another girl to replace Kikyo and you were the one who gave her such grief for seeing me."

"Shut up!" I screamed, my anger surging. "I found him, he didn't find me!"

"You've certainly found one to match your big mouth." He said towards me. "Get out of the way, girl."

"I won't." I said persistently.

"I said get out of the way!" He yelled.

"And I said I won't! I won't leave him!" Tightening my grip on Inu-Yasha as if to prove my point to him as well, I felt suddenly empowered. "I haven't left him since I found him and I don't plan to now! He's helped me get through so many things this year, including the underhanded way that your gang ruins people's lives. I know the whole story, Naraku! Inu-Yasha's a good person who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, he doesn't deserve this, he's been quiet!" I yelled, realizing that the same thing went for my father. He was killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"I do know what I'm talking about!" I shrilled. "Inu-Yasha is the greatest person I've ever met and I'm sorry that it took you threatening his life for me to meet him but I met him all the same. And he was going to leave you alone, all he wanted was his life back which you had no right to try to take from him in the first place! He knew eventually you'd get what was coming to you whether it would have been jail or another person taking your life! Inu-Yasha's smart and courageous and caring, he would never care to be in this mess you call a life!"

"So you fell in love with a past-less loser, woman, very touching." He said releasing the safety of the gun. Inu-Yasha was frozen under my body.

"I did fall in love with him, and not you or your gun will change that!" I screamed through tears as I heard the gun fire. I gripped Inu-Yasha's shirt momentarily, feeling a piercing pain in my left shoulder followed by warmth that trailed down my back and onto the ground where mine and Inu-Yasha's legs touched.

"K-Kagome!" Inu-Yasha screamed loud enough for me to stay awake. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Naraku run when the sound of sirens sounded in a blurry whirl of what I could make out of the world. "You're not getting away again you bastard! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!" After a bit of hazed thought, I figured he was aiming for my heart to kill me through my back and luckily he had missed…

After a few more moments of drifting in and out of what seemed like sleep, I saw Miroku crouching next to me asking questions. All I heard was that he had tipped off the police about the entire gang hideout and Naraku's plan to finish off Inu-Yasha.

"Damn it, Miroku, I don't care about all that right now! He shot Kagome! He fucking shot her!" Inu-Yasha yelled at him with panic rising in his voice.

"Sango, call for an ambulance!" Miroku yelled as I could hear Sango's hysterical cries from behind him. I merely laid silent, still shocked by the events.

"Kagome, Kagome say something!" Inu-Yasha said lowering his face by mine to see if I was awake.

"I'm okay…" I said faintly. Miroku then got up.

"I'm going to go with Sango to wait for the ambulance. Call if you need anything." He said darkly. Once he left, Inu-Yasha positioned me in his arms more comfortably than I was, revealing the large pool of blood that had formed in his lap and under him.

"A-are you okay?" I choked out.

"Forget me, Kagome!" He said with panic. "You just got shot! Why would you do that?! He could have killed you!"

"But I'm alive." I kept my sentences quick so there could be more of them. I felt really dizzy and nauseous. Blood rushed to my head suddenly as I realized what I had blurted out minutes before and suddenly felt so embarrassed about the outburst. "About what I said…" Inu-Yasha looked at me and bit his lip before sighing.

"Kagome, I remember a lot of things now. About Sesshomaru, Miroku… and you." I looked on in confusion. "Miroku told me about Sango and her friend. About the kind things that you always did and do you remember Miroku's party last year?"

"Yes."

"I was there. I was going to talk to you but got freaked out and didn't. Kagome, I remember I really wanted to be with you back then but I was too dumb. I didn't think I was good enough. You were so kind to Miroku and Sango and my family was a gang. I tried to forget about you by going with Kikyo."

"Inu-Yasha…"

"That's why it's amazing that you're the one who found me. And I guess that's why I felt so comfortable with you. I guess somewhere I remembered you just a little."

"So you were kind of remembering what was never there?" I smiled a bit.

"I guess." He said curtly. "Kagome, I'm so sorry this happened." I merely shook my head and with my finger motioned for him to bend down a little more. He followed my command as I pecked him quickly on the lips.

"Don't be." The sound of sirens hurt my ears and it was mere seconds before two men had snatched me from Inu-Yasha's grasp and had put me onto a rolling bed. I was lucky, they let Inu-Yasha ride in the ambulance with me, however it was only after I explained that he was my boyfriend did they let him without question.

XxXxXxX

"Inu-Yasha, could you hand me that glass up there?" I asked pointing to a far glass in the cabinet. His form walked behind me and grabbed the glass while I threw a few spices into a pan with the meat on the stove top. He handed it to me and smiled, pulling it away with a small smirk imprinted on his lips. I looked at him and smiled back before kissing him and taking the glass from him. "Thank you."

"How's your shoulder?"

"It's so much better now. The scar's still a little tender but I'll live." It had been about a month since the incident with Naraku had occurred and things seemed so much better. The gang had been busted that day, thanks to inside help from Miroku, and things were looking up. Both Sesshomaru and Koga had been arrested and Kaede took over being the owner of the store, making our working conditions so much more fun and flexible. I sold my apartment to go live in Inu-Yasha's beautiful family house which was only made better by the fact that we both lived in it together. We were still in the process of getting all of my boxes unpacked but I still felt more at home than I ever did in my run-down old apartment. All the kitchen windows were open, letting in the cool March breeze blow through the entire room.

I filled the cup with water before pouring it over the meat to make the gravy and put it in the oven, turning it on as I did so. Inu-Yasha and I walked out into the living room and sat down on the love seat, his arm firmly around my shoulders, his hand cradling my injured one.

"Do you remember what you said to me in the hospital?" Inu-Yasha said in a quiet tone.

"I don't remember anything except Sango sobbing at my bed side and threatening to kill the doctors every time I said 'ow'." He chuckled a bit and turned to look at me.

"You said, 'I just took a bullet for you, you better stay with me now.'"

"Did I really?"

"Yeah. Not sure if it was the drugs or you but it still made me laugh. I said, 'stupid, not for Kikyo or anyone.'"

"Glad to hear that." I smiled slightly bigger.

"I guess we have a while until dinner huh?"

"Yeah about an hour. I know something we can do to pass the time." I said with a hint in my voice.

"What'd you have in mind?" Inu-Yasha smirked as I reached up to kiss him lovingly.

No matter what happened from here on out, I knew that things would be great for the rest of our time together. And one thing was for darn certain, no matter what happened to either of us, memory loss or not, we'd be sure that neither one of us would ever forget the bond that we held in that alley way, in our apartment or our new house. We'd always remember what was never there, even if it killed us to keep trying.

XxXxXxX

**A/N:** _Well, that, my friends is the end of the story! It's funny, I just turned 17 this past week. I started this story when I was 15 I believe. Haha, well thank you all so much for all your support for these past two years. It's really been a great ride with every single one of you. Please, I beg you, to check back for more Inu-Yasha stories in the future, I do have some great plans for some one-shots and stories and I promise not to disappoint._

_Thank you all, I love each and every one of you! Don't be afraid to drop a message on here anytime!_

'_Till Next Time!_

_A Very Grateful Friend In Words,_

_--KyosBeads13 ((KB))_


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